Theme, Style, Attribute

Use Custom Theme Globally

In themes.xml:

<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat">
    <!-- Theme attributes here -->
</style>

In AndroidManifest.xml:

<application
    android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
    android:label="@string/app_name"
    android:theme="@style/AppTheme">
    
    <!-- Activity declarations here -->

</application>

Define primary, primary dark, and accent colors

You can customize your theme’s color palette.

Using framework APIs

<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.Material">
    <item name="android:colorPrimary">@color/primary</item>
    <item name="android:colorPrimaryDark">@color/primary_dark</item>
    <item name="android:colorAccent">@color/accent</item>
</style>

Using the Appcompat support library (and AppCompatActivity)

<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat">
    <item name="colorPrimary">@color/primary</item>
    <item name="colorPrimaryDark">@color/primary_dark</item>
    <item name="colorAccent">@color/accent</item>
</style>

Use Custom Theme Per Activity

In themes.xml:

<style name="MyActivityTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat">
    <!-- Theme attributes here -->
</style>

In AndroidManifest.xml:

<application
    android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
    android:label="@string/app_name"
    android:theme="@style/Theme.AppCompat">
    
    <activity
        android:name=".MyActivity"
        android:theme="@style/MyActivityTheme" />

</application>

Overscroll Color (API 21+)

<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat">
    <item name="android:colorEdgeEffect">@color/my_color</item>
</style>

Ripple Color (API 21+)

The ripple animation is shown when user presses clickable views.

You can use the same ripple color used by your app assigning the ?android:colorControlHighlight in your views. You can customize this color by changing the android:colorControlHighlight attribute in your theme:

This effect color can be changed:

<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat">
    <item name="android:colorControlHighlight">@color/my_color</item>
</style>

Or, if you are using a Material Theme:

<style name="AppTheme" parent="android:Theme.Material.Light">
    <item name="android:colorControlHighlight">@color/your_custom_color</item>
</style>

Light Status Bar (API 23+)

This attribute can change the background of the Status Bar icons (at the top of the screen) to white.

<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat">
    <item name="android:windowLightStatusBar">true</item>
</style>

Translucent Navigation and Status Bars (API 19+)

The navigation bar (at the bottom of the screen) can be transparent. Here is the way to achieve it.

<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat">
    <item name="android:windowTranslucentNavigation">true</item>
</style>

The Status Bar (top of the screen) can be made transparent, by applying this attribute to the style:

<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat">
    <item name="android:windowTranslucentStatus">true</item>
</style>

Navigation Bar Color (API 21+)

This attribute is used to change the navigation bar (one, that contain Back, Home Recent button). Usually it is black, however it’s color can be changed.

<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat">
    <item name="android:navigationBarColor">@color/my_color</item>
</style>

Theme inheritance

When defining themes, one usually uses the theme provided by the system, and then changes modifies the look to fit his own application. For example, this is how the Theme.AppCompat theme is inherited:

<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat">
    <item name="colorPrimary">@color/colorPrimary</item>
    <item name="colorPrimaryDark">@color/colorPrimaryDark</item>
    <item name="colorAccent">@color/colorAccent</item>
</style>

This theme now has all the properties of the standard Theme.AppCompat theme, except the ones we explicitly changed.

There is also a shortcut when inheriting, usually used when one inherits from his own theme:

<style name="AppTheme.Red">
    <item name="colorAccent">@color/red</item>
</style>

Since it already has AppTheme. in the start of it’s name, it automatically inherits it, without needing to define the parent theme. This is useful when you need to create specific styles for a part (for example, a single Activity) of your app.