Why do View fields still affect layout but GONE?

I have LinearLayout

it FrameLayout

inside with some margin. The odd thing is that even when visibility

set to GONE

, the internal field of view seems to affect the surrounding elements. This is just at runtime, not at design time in the IDE.

Android Documentation:

GONE is an invisible view and requires no layout space

• So why does margin still matter?
• What sense does it make (if any)?
• And most importantly, how can I achieve complete disappearance and have no influence on my neighbors?

Of course, you can just set the margin to 0, but this is really awkward when you need to frequently switch to visibility and maintain the correct margins.

Here is the layout file:

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:id="@+id/cardLayout"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content">


    <LinearLayout
        android:id="@+id/cardContentStack"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:orientation="vertical"
        android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
        android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
        android:layout_alignParentStart="true">

        <ImageView
            android:id="@+id/cardImageLarge"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="@dimen/card_image_big_height"
            android:layout_marginBottom="@dimen/card_image_big_bottom_margin"
            android:layout_marginLeft="@dimen/margin_base"
            android:layout_marginRight="@dimen/margin_base"
            android:visibility="gone"
            tools:src="@drawable/some_image"
            tools:visibility="visible" />

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

            <FrameLayout
                android:id="@+id/cardImageWrapper"
                android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                android:layout_height="match_parent"
                android:layout_marginLeft="@dimen/margin_base">

                <ImageView
                    android:id="@+id/cardImage"
                    android:layout_width="@dimen/card_image_size"
                    android:layout_height="@dimen/card_image_size"
                    android:visibility="gone"
                    tools:src="@drawable/some_image2"
                    tools:visibility="visible" />

                <ImageView
                    android:id="@+id/cardImageSmall"
                    android:layout_width="@dimen/card_image_small_size"
                    android:layout_height="@dimen/card_image_small_size"
                    android:layout_margin="@dimen/margin_base"
                    android:visibility="gone"
                    tools:src="@drawable/some_image3"
                    tools:visibility="visible" />

            </FrameLayout>

            <LinearLayout
                android:id="@+id/cardBodyContainer"
                android:layout_width="match_parent"
                android:layout_height="match_parent"
                android:orientation="vertical">

                <LinearLayout
                    android:id="@+id/cardTextContainer"
                    android:layout_width="match_parent"
                    android:layout_height="0dp"
                    android:layout_weight="1"
                    android:orientation="vertical"
                    android:paddingBottom="@dimen/margin_base"
                    android:paddingRight="@dimen/margin_base"
                    android:paddingTop="@dimen/card_title_top_margin">

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

                        <com.company.android.text.textview.BodyMedium
                            android:id="@+id/cardTitle"
                            android:layout_width="match_parent"
                            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                            android:layout_weight="1"
                            android:textColor="@color/midnight"
                            tools:text="Michele Theisen" />

                        <FrameLayout
                            android:id="@+id/cardTitleRightSpacer"
                            android:layout_width="@dimen/card_title_right_spacer"
                            android:layout_height="match_parent"
                            android:layout_weight="1"
                            android:visibility="gone"
                            tools:visibility="visible">

                        </FrameLayout>
                    </LinearLayout>

                    <com.company.android.text.textview.BodyLittle
                        android:id="@+id/cardBody"
                        android:layout_width="match_parent"
                        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                        android:layout_marginTop="@dimen/card_title_top_margin"
                        android:layout_weight="1"
                        android:ellipsize="end"
                        android:maxLines="2"
                        android:textColor="@color/twilight"
                        android:visibility="gone"
                        tools:text="Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text"
                        tools:visibility="visible" />
                </LinearLayout>

                <LinearLayout
                    android:id="@+id/cardButtonContainer"
                    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                    android:layout_gravity="right"
                    android:orientation="horizontal"
                    android:paddingBottom="@dimen/margin_small"
                    android:paddingLeft="@dimen/margin_small"
                    android:paddingRight="@dimen/margin_small"
                    android:visibility="gone"
                    tools:visibility="visible">

                    <com.company.views.materialstextviews.CardButton
                        android:id="@+id/cardSecondaryButton"
                        android:layout_width="0dp"
                        android:layout_height="@dimen/card_action_button_height"
                        android:layout_marginRight="@dimen/margin_small"
                        android:layout_weight="1"
                        android:background="?android:attr/selectableItemBackground"
                        android:maxLines="1"
                        android:paddingLeft="@dimen/margin_xs"
                        android:paddingRight="@dimen/margin_xs"
                        android:singleLine="true"
                        android:textColor="@color/twilight"
                        android:visibility="gone"
                        tools:text="BUTTON TEXT MIGHT BE LONG"
                        tools:visibility="visible" />

                    <com.company.views.materialstextviews.CardButton
                        android:id="@+id/cardPrimaryButton"
                        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                        android:layout_height="@dimen/card_action_button_height"
                        android:background="?android:attr/selectableItemBackground"
                        android:ellipsize="end"
                        android:maxLines="1"
                        android:paddingLeft="@dimen/margin_xs"
                        android:paddingRight="@dimen/margin_xs"
                        android:singleLine="true"
                        android:textColor="@color/green"
                        android:visibility="visible"
                        tools:text="BUTTON TEXT"
                        tools:visibility="visible" />

                </LinearLayout>

            </LinearLayout>

        </LinearLayout>

    </LinearLayout>

    <ImageView
        android:id="@+id/cardCloseButton"
        android:layout_width="@dimen/card_close_button_size"
        android:layout_height="@dimen/card_close_button_size"
        android:layout_alignParentEnd="true"
        android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
        android:background="@drawable/ic_card_close"
        android:clickable="true"
        android:foreground="?android:attr/selectableItemBackground" />


</RelativeLayout>

      

        
        
        
      

    

cardImageWrapper

is the view that is causing the problem.