The eye resolves complex arrangements into the simplest, most stable interpretation available.
Law · Perception
Tag
layout
Entries tagged layout, drawn from across the library. Tags cut through the section structure, which is where most of the useful connections are.
28 entries across 6 sections
Type
Category
Level
28 entries
Show the common case first and reveal the rest on request, so complexity is available without being present.
Principle · Complexity
Controls should be arranged to match the thing they control, so the relationship needs no explanation.
Principle · Interaction
People learn to ignore anything that looks like an advertisement, including your own content when it looks like one.
Psychology · Attention
The order in which elements are noticed, controlled by size, weight, colour, position and space.
UI foundation · Visual design
Shared edges create invisible lines that organise a layout and make it feel deliberate.
UI foundation · Visual design
Things placed close together are read as belonging together, before anything is read.
UI foundation · Gestalt principles
A shared boundary or background binds elements together more strongly than proximity does.
UI foundation · Gestalt principles
Distributing visual weight so a composition feels stable, whether or not it is symmetrical.
UI foundation · Visual design
How the parts are arranged on the whole surface, which determines where the eye goes and in what order.
UI foundation · Visual design
Empty space is a design element that groups, emphasises and sets pace, not leftover area.
UI foundation · Visual design
Repeating spacing intervals create a pulse that makes long pages feel ordered.
UI foundation · Visual design
How easily continuous text can be read, governed mostly by size, line length, leading and contrast.
UI foundation · Typography
A shared structure that makes alignment automatic and layout decisions repeatable.
UI foundation · Layout
How many vertical divisions the content occupies, which affects scanning as much as it affects fit.
UI foundation · Layout
The constraint that stops content spreading to unusable widths, and increasingly the unit that components respond to.
UI foundation · Layout
A fixed set of spacing values, so every gap in the product comes from the same vocabulary.
UI foundation · Layout
One layout that reflows across sizes, ideally driven by content limits rather than by device categories.
UI foundation · Layout
Distinct layouts for distinct contexts, justified when the task genuinely differs rather than merely the screen size.
UI foundation · Layout
The widths at which the layout changes, chosen from where the content breaks rather than from a device list.
UI foundation · Layout
Lines that separate, which should be the second choice after space rather than the first.
UI foundation · Form and depth
Parallel views in one space, which works only when users never need to compare across them.
Component · Navigation
A container that groups content about one object, and the most over-applied component in modern UI.
Component · Containers
Measuring where people look, which is expensive, frequently over-interpreted, and occasionally irreplaceable.
Research method · Evaluative
Content must work at 400 percent zoom without horizontal scrolling, which is the same as working at 320 pixels wide.
Accessibility · Perceivable
Users must be able to increase spacing without content being clipped or lost.
Accessibility · Perceivable
Work out structure and priority while changes are still cheap, and stop before the fidelity starts answering questions you have not asked.
Workflow · Process
Generating structural options early, which is useful for breadth and unreliable for quality.
AI workflow · Exploration