Описание тега android-styles

A style is a collection of properties that specify the look and format for a View or window

From the developer's guide:

A style is a collection of properties that specify the look and format for a View or window. A style can specify properties such as height, padding, font color, font size, background color, and much more. A style is defined in an XML resource that is separate from the XML that specifies the layout.

Styles in Android share a similar philosophy to cascading stylesheets in web design—they allow you to separate the design from the content.

For example, by using a style, you can take this layout XML:

<TextView android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:textColor="#00FF00" android:typeface="monospace" android:text="@string/hello" />

And turn it into this:

<TextView style="@style/CodeFont" android:text="@string/hello" />