Percentage width in a RelativeLayout

This does not quite answer the original question, which was for a 70/30 split, but in the special case of a 50/50 split between the components there is a way: place an invisible strut at the center and use it to position the two components of interest.

<RelativeLayout 
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content">
    <View android:id="@+id/strut"
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="0dp" 
        android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"/>
    <Button
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignRight="@id/strut"
        android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
        android:text="Left"/> 
    <Button 
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignLeft="@id/strut"
        android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
        android:text="Right"/>
</RelativeLayout>

As this is a pretty common case, this solution is more than a curiosity. It is a bit of a hack but an efficient one because the empty, zero-sized strut should cost very little.

In general, though, it's best not to expect too much from the stock Android layouts...


You are looking for the android:layout_weight attribute. It will allow you to use percentages to define your layout.

In the following example, the left button uses 70% of the space, and the right button 30%.

<LinearLayout
    android:layout_width="match_parent" 
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:orientation="horizontal">

    <Button
        android:text="left" 
        android:layout_width="0dp" 
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
        android:layout_weight=".70" /> 

    <Button
        android:text="right" 
        android:layout_width="0dp" 
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
        android:layout_weight=".30" />

</LinearLayout>

It works the same with any kind of View, you can replace the buttons with some EditText to fit your needs.

Be sure to set the layout_width to 0dp or your views may not be scaled properly.

Note that the weight sum doesn't have to equal 1, I just find it easier to read like this. You can set the first weight to 7 and the second to 3 and it will give the same result.