114 lines
4.1 KiB
Markdown
114 lines
4.1 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: Auto Layout
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description: Flex and grid layout in OpenPencil — direction, gap, padding, alignment, child sizing, and CSS Grid tracks.
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---
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# Auto Layout
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Auto layout positions children automatically within a frame. It supports two modes: **flex** (horizontal/vertical flow) and **grid** (rows and columns with track sizing).
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## Enabling Auto Layout
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- Select a frame and press <kbd>⇧</kbd><kbd>A</kbd> (<kbd>Shift</kbd> + <kbd>A</kbd>) to toggle auto layout on or off
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- Select loose nodes (without a parent frame) and press <kbd>⇧</kbd><kbd>A</kbd> to wrap them in a new auto-layout frame
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When wrapping a selection, nodes are sorted by visual position: left-to-right for horizontal layout, top-to-bottom for vertical.
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## Layout Direction
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Choose how children are arranged:
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- **Horizontal** — children flow left to right
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- **Vertical** — children flow top to bottom
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- **Wrap** — children wrap to the next row/column when they run out of space
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## Spacing
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### Gap
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The space between adjacent children. Set a single value that applies between all children.
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### Padding
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The space between the frame edge and its children. Set a uniform value for all sides, or expand to set each side independently (top, right, bottom, left).
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## Alignment
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### Justify (main axis)
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Controls how children are distributed along the layout direction:
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- **Start** — children pack to the beginning
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- **Center** — children are centered
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- **End** — children pack to the end
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- **Space between** — children spread with equal space between them
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### Align (cross axis)
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Controls how children are positioned perpendicular to the layout direction:
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- **Start** — children align to the start
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- **Center** — children are centered
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- **End** — children align to the end
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- **Stretch** — children stretch to fill the cross axis
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## Child Sizing
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Each child in an auto-layout frame can have its own sizing mode:
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- **Fixed** — uses the child's explicit width/height
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- **Fill** — stretches to fill available space in the parent
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- **Hug** — shrinks to fit the child's content
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## Drag Reordering
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Within an auto-layout frame, drag a child to reorder it among its siblings. A visual insertion indicator shows where the child will be dropped.
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## Properties Panel
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When an auto-layout frame is selected, the Layout section in the properties panel shows all auto-layout controls: direction, gap, padding, justify, and align.
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## Keyboard Shortcuts
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| Action | Mac | Windows / Linux |
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|--------|-----|-----------------|
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| Toggle auto layout | <kbd>⇧</kbd><kbd>A</kbd> | <kbd>Shift</kbd> + <kbd>A</kbd> |
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## CSS Grid
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Grid layout arranges children in rows and columns with explicit track sizing.
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### Enabling Grid
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Select a frame with auto layout enabled and click the grid icon in the layout toolbar to switch from flex to grid.
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### Track Sizing
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Define column and row tracks with three sizing modes:
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- **fr** — fractional unit, divides available space proportionally
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- **px** — fixed pixel size
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- **auto** — sizes to fit content
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Example: three columns of `1fr 200px 1fr` creates a layout with a fixed center column and flexible sides.
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### Grid Gaps
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Set separate horizontal (column) and vertical (row) gaps between cells.
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### Child Positioning
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Children are placed into grid cells automatically in row order. You can override placement with column/row start and span values in the child's layout properties.
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### JSX and Tailwind Export
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Grid layouts export to JSX with Tailwind classes: `grid grid-cols-3`, `gap-x-4 gap-y-2`, `col-start-2 row-span-2`.
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## Tips
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- Auto layout recomputes immediately after creation, so the selection bounds update right away.
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- Nest auto-layout frames for complex responsive layouts (e.g., a vertical frame containing horizontal rows).
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- Use "Fill" sizing to make a child take up remaining space, like a flex-grow: 1 in CSS.
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- Use grid for dashboard layouts, galleries, and forms — anything with a two-dimensional structure.
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- See [Drawing Shapes](./drawing-shapes) for creating the frames that auto layout applies to.
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- See [Components](./components) for using auto layout within reusable components.
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