Took me 2 years to realize I was using auto layout completely backwards

I was putting frames inside auto layout containers and then manually spacing everything. A coworker glanced at my screen last Tuesday and just said 'uh, you know you can nest auto layout right?' Felt like an idiot. Has anyone else had a facepalm moment like that with a basic Figma feature?

2 comments

2 Comments

pipergonzalez4d ago

@miller.paul what's your threshold for nesting before it gets messy?

miller.paul4d ago

Wait, isn't putting frames inside auto layout basically what the tool is for? I've been doing that for years and my layouts are clean and easy to update. Spacing items manually inside a frame is the whole point of auto layout containers. Nesting them is fine for complex designs but for basic page sections one level of auto layout with some padding usually does the job. If it works and you can edit it fast later then you weren't using it backwards at all.