How to make my TextView width half of its parent?

The quick and dirty way is like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><RelativeLayout    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"    android:orientation="vertical"    android:layout_width="fill_parent"    android:layout_height="fill_parent">    <LinearLayout        android:layout_width="match_parent"        android:layout_height="match_parent"        android:weightSum="2">        <TextView            android:layout_width="0dp"            android:layout_height="match_parent"            android:layout_weight="1"            android:background="#ff0000"            />    </LinearLayout></RelativeLayout>

You have to wrap it in another container, then use only half the weight sum of the parent.

Use android:layout_weight="0.5" it will work for linearLayout

<LinearLayout                android:layout_width="fill_parent"                android:layout_height="wrap_content"                android:weightSum="1"                android:gravity="center"                android:orientation="vertical" >                <TextView                    android:id="@+id/feedback"                    android:layout_width="wrap_content"                    android:layout_weight="0.5"                    android:textSize="15pt" />

You may want to set the weightSum of the parent LinearLayout, something like this:-

<LinearLayout    android:id="@+id/linearLayout1"    android:layout_width="match_parent"    android:layout_height="wrap_content"    android:orientation="horizontal"    android:gravity="center_horizontal"    android:padding="6dp"    android:weightSum="2">    <TextView        android:id="@+id/textView1"        android:layout_width="wrap_content"        android:layout_height="match_parent"        android:text="@string/hello"        android:layout_weight="1" /></LinearLayout>