Android Studio: What does the blueprint area do? What benefit is it?

Question

I'm working through Android layout and I know there is this new(er) thing call Blueprint. I'm wondering what the Blueprint view offers.

What I've Tried

1. Added Button and Moved It Around Via Constraints

I don't see really any difference between the two design views (normal and blueprint).

Oh, I did see one difference in the two views.
You only see the outlines of the controls if you are floating above the normal design view (image 1 below). If your cursor is not in the window you don't see them (image 2 below).

Is that the difference?

2. Searched Google's Android Dev Site

I could only find one small bit of information at : https://developer.android.com/studio/write/layout-editor

It said:

the Blueprint view (only outlines for each view)

The blueprint takes up a lot of screen space and I'm wondering if that is all it offers (just outlines of controls)?

I can't see how that is more beneficial than just seeing the "outlines" in the normal design view by floating over view.

Does blueprint offer something additional that I'm not understanding? Is there some other benefit?

Answer 1

AFAIK there really isn't any 'huge' advantage to the blueprint view. It provides a wireframe view of your design.

There are a few cases where it comes in useful though, for example,

• If your View is invisible, it won't be seen in the preview but it will visible in the blueprint view.
• Overlapping views are more clearly visible and identifiable.
• It provides a more clutter-free view where the constraints and views are more immediately identifiable.
• It's also used to be useful for preview of components that are 'invisible' (for example, imageview who's src get set programmatically).
• Rendering the blueprint view is faster. (As pointed out by Martin Marconcini in the comments)