How to lay out controls using columns

By Alasdair Manson
1 min. read

The Balsamiq UI Library has a number of controls which are used as containers e.g. Browser Window, iPhone & iPad, Rectangle and Tabs. (Many user interface platforms and pattern libraries offer support for column layout e.g. Google Material Design)

Containers allow you to snap other UI Controls to a grid of columns to help with alignment, and simplify the overall design process. Laying out webpages just got easier!

Select any container control on the Canvas and you'll see the column properties in the Property Inspector:

You can choose 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, or 12 columns. If you select Automatic, we'll choose the appropriate number of columns based on the size of the control. You can also specify an Outside margin to center the columns inside the control.

Author

Alasdair Manson
Alasdair Manson

Questions or feedback? Email alasdair@balsamiq.com.

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