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Why does everyone love auto layout so much? I just don't see it.
I found a stat in the Figma Community survey from last month that says 78% of designers use auto layout for every project. That surprised me because I've been trying it for 6 months now and it still feels like a headache. Every time I use it, I end up fighting with padding and spacing for way too long. I actually prefer manually aligning things with shift+click and using consistent grids. Auto layout breaks on me when I need to swap out elements with different sizes. Am I the only one who thinks plain old frames work better for complex layouts?
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paigewood2d agoMost Upvoted
Fight with it for another week and it might click. I hated auto layout for about three months before something just snapped and now I can't go back. The trick is to stop thinking about exact pixel spacing and let the constraints do the work for you. Plain frames work fine until you have to update a design and realize you're realigning 80 layers by hand.
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eric3592d ago
Did you ever try forcing yourself to use it on a project you absolutely hated? I did that with a client's landing page once and by the end I was nesting frames like it was second nature, even though I swore I'd never touch it again. What finally made it snap for you?
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