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gabrielemariotti/cardslib

★ 4,621JavaAudience · developerComplexity · 3/5Setup · hard

TLDR

An Android library from 2013-2014 that simplifies building card-style UI panels, adding pre-built behaviors, drag-and-drop, and staggered grid layouts on top of Google's CardView component.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((repo))
    What It Does
      Android card UI
      Wraps CardView
      Pre-built behaviors
    Modules
      Core card display
      RecyclerView lists
      Staggered grid
      Drag and drop
    Status
      Created 2013 to 2014
      Likely unmaintained
      Historical reference
    Audience
      Android developers
      Legacy project work
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Code map

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Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Study how card-based Android UI was built before modern Jetpack Compose components existed.

USE CASE 2

Add drag-and-drop card reordering to an older Android project that already uses CardView.

USE CASE 3

Implement a staggered grid layout of cards in an Android app using the cardslib extras module.

Tech stack

JavaAndroidRecyclerView

Getting it running

Difficulty · hard Time to first run · 1h+

Library is likely unmaintained and may not be compatible with current Android Gradle versions or modern API levels.

In plain English

Card Library is an Android library that makes it easier to display information in card-shaped UI panels inside an Android app. Cards are a visual layout pattern where content is grouped into rounded rectangular blocks, a style that Google promoted heavily in its Material Design guidelines. This library wraps Google's own CardView component and adds a set of pre-built behaviors and customizations on top of it. The library is split into separate modules so you only add what you need. The core module handles basic card display, while optional add-ons cover built-in card styles, scrollable lists using Android's RecyclerView, a staggered grid layout, and drag-and-drop reordering. Each module is added through a single line in the project's build configuration file. The project ships with a demo app available on Google Play that shows off the range of card styles and interactions the library supports. A separate extras demo app shows how the library integrates with other popular Android libraries. A full written guide covers all the features and customization options in detail. This library was created in 2013 and 2014, when Google's own card components were newer and less capable. It relies on older dependency management conventions and references now-defunct services like Google+. The library is likely no longer actively maintained and may not be compatible with current Android development tools, but it remains a historical reference for card-based Android UI patterns.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
Show me how to display a basic card with a title, thumbnail, and action button in an Android Java app using cardslib.
Prompt 2
How do I enable drag-and-drop reordering of card items in a RecyclerView using the cardslib extras module?
Prompt 3
What are the Jetpack Compose equivalents for the card UI patterns shown in the cardslib demo app? Give me a side-by-side comparison.
Prompt 4
How do I add cardslib to an Android project using Gradle and configure only the RecyclerView module without the staggered grid?
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