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Element identification on Android

Functionality that is repeated on multiple screens should use consistent identification. Screen readers users rely heavily on their familiarity with functions that may appear on different screens. If identical functions have different labels on different screens, your app will be considerably more difficult to use. It may also be confusing and increase the cognitive load for people with cognitive limitations.

In Android, you should create custom Views to re-use functionality on multiple screens.

When using icons, use the search function of your IDE to check all instances. The icon should have the same accessibility label on each screen, and the functionality should also be the same.

For example, when using a cross icon for closing a screen, make sure the label is 'Close' on all screens, and check that it always closes a screen.

In Android Studio, you can use the Find Usages option to check if resources are used on multiple screens. Go to your drawable folder, right click and select the Find Usages option. You can also use the shortcut Option + F7 on Mac, or Alt + F7 on Windows.

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