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Software Engineering vocabulary · Web, Mobile and Interface Development

Orientation

Meaning in software engineering, with examples

/ˌɔːriənˈteɪʃən/nounCommon term

In software engineering, orientation means: The way a device is held and the screen is shown: portrait (upright) or landscape (sideways); an app can support one or both.

In Turkish: ekran yönü, yön

How it is used

Teams decide whether to lock the orientation or support rotation. On Android, an orientation change is a configuration change that recreates the activity by default, which can lose state if not handled. Tablets and foldable phones make orientation support more important.

Example sentences

  1. The app is locked to portrait orientation, except for the video player.

  2. The form resets after an orientation change on Android.

Common collocations

  • portrait orientation
  • landscape orientation
  • lock the orientation
  • orientation change
  • screen rotation
  • activityIn Android, a core app component that represents one screen with a user interface and has its own lifecycle, from being created to being destroyed.
  • safe areaThe part of the screen that is not covered by the notch, camera cutout, status bar or home indicator, where important content and buttons can be placed safely.
  • screenOne full view of an app that the user sees at a time, such as the login screen or the settings screen; apps are planned as a set of screens.
  • screen densityHow many pixels a screen has in a given physical area, measured in dots per inch (dpi); high-density screens need larger image files to look sharp.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Web, Mobile and Interface Development

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