Makepad 2 0 Layout

Makepad 2.0 Layout System

Makepad uses a layout turtle system — not CSS flexbox, not CSS grid. The turtle walks through children one by one, placing each widget according to two core concepts:

• Walk — how a widget sizes itself (width, height, margin)
• Layout — how a container arranges its children (flow, spacing, padding, align)

Every container widget (View, SolidView, RoundedView, ScrollYView, etc.) has both Walk properties (its own size) and Layout properties (how it lays out children).

When to Use

Use this skill when:

• Building Makepad 2.0 UI with the Splash DSL or Rust widget code
• Debugging invisible/zero-height layouts in Makepad
• Implementing scrollable containers, overlay popups, or split panels
• Converting CSS flexbox/grid mental models to Makepad's turtle system
• Designing responsive layouts, toolbars, card grids, or modal dialogs in Makepad
• Reviewing accessibility, visual hierarchy, or interaction states for Makepad frontends

Prerequisites

• Makepad 2.0 codebase or project with use mod.prelude.widgets.* available
• Basic familiarity with the Splash live-design DSL syntax
• For overlay/popup work: understanding of button.area().clipped_rect(cx) and walk.abs_pos
• Copy-pasteable layout examples are in Procedure §12 of this file
• Load /splash.md for the full Splash language manual when writing complex DSL
• For widget types and properties, use sibling skill makepad-2-0-widgets when it is installed; otherwise read widget source in the Makepad project

Procedure

1. Understand Walk (Widget Sizing)

Walk controls how an individual widget claims space inside its parent.

width / height values:

// Fill: takes all available width
View {
    width: Fill height: Fit
    flow: Down
    Label { text: "I stretch to fill the width" }
}

// Fit: shrinks to content
View {
    width: Fit height: Fit
    padding: 10
    Label { text: "I am only as wide as this text" }
}

// Fixed: exact pixel size
View {
    width: 300 height: 200
    Label { text: "I am exactly 300x200 pixels" }
}

// Constrained Fill: fills but within bounds
View {
    width: Fill { min: 200 max: 600 } height: Fit
    flow: Down padding: 16
    Label { text: "I fill available space but stay between 200-600px" }
}

2. Set height: Fit on ALL Containers (CRITICAL)

This is the number one layout bug in Makepad.

The default height is Fill. When your output renders inside a Fit container, Fill inside Fit creates a circular dependency and resolves to 0 pixels. Your entire UI becomes invisible.

HARD RULE: ALWAYS set height: Fit on every View, SolidView, RoundedView, and similar container unless the parent has a fixed or Fill height.

// CORRECT — height: Fit makes the container visible
View {
    width: Fill height: Fit
    flow: Down padding: 10
    Label { text: "I am visible" }
}

// WRONG — defaults to height: Fill, resolves to 0px, invisible
View {
    width: Fill
    flow: Down padding: 10
    Label { text: "I am invisible (0px tall)" }
}

Exceptions where height: Fill is acceptable:

1. Inside a fixed-height parent:

View {
    height: 400
    View {
        height: Fill
        Label { text: "I fill the 400px parent" }
    }
}

2. Inside a height: Fill chain that ultimately reaches a known size (e.g., Window body).
3. ScrollYView always uses height: Fill because it must fill its parent to scroll.

3. Apply Margin

Margin adds space around the outside of a widget.

// Uniform margin on all sides
Label { text: "Hello" margin: 10 }

// Selective margin with Inset
Label {
    text: "Indented"
    margin: Inset { top: 5 bottom: 5 left: 20 right: 20 }
}

// Zero margin (note the trailing dot for float literal)
Label { text: "Flush" margin: 0. }

4. Choose Flow Direction

// Vertical stack (most common)
View {
    width: Fill height: Fit
    flow: Down spacing: 10
    Label { text: "First" }
    Label { text: "Second" }
    Label { text: "Third" }
}

// Horizontal row
View {
    width: Fill height: Fit
    flow: Right spacing: 10
    Label { text: "Left" }
    Label { text: "Center" }
    Label { text: "Right" }
}

// Overlay — children stacked on top of each other
View {
    width: Fill height: 200
    flow: Overlay
    Image { width: Fill height: Fill fit: ImageFit.Biggest }
    View {
        width: Fill height: Fit
        align: Align { x: 0.5 y: 1.0 }
        padding: 10
        Label { text: "Caption overlay" draw_text.color: #fff }
    }
}

// Wrapping flow — like a tag cloud or grid of cards
View {
    width: Fill height: Fit
    flow: Flow.Right { wrap: true }
    spacing: 8 padding: 10
    Label { text: "Tag 1" margin: 4 }
    Label { text: "Tag 2" margin: 4 }
    Label { text: "Tag 3" margin: 4 }
    Label { text: "Tag 4" margin: 4 }
}

5. Set Spacing and Padding

// Spacing: gap between children
View {
    flow: Down spacing: 12
    Label { text: "12px gap below me" }
    Label { text: "12px gap above and below me" }
    Label { text: "12px gap above me" }
}

// Uniform padding
View {
    width: Fill height: Fit
    padding: 20
    Label { text: "20px padding on all sides" }
}

// Selective padding with Inset
View {
    width: Fill height: Fit
    padding: Inset { top: 10 bottom: 10 left: 24 right: 24 }
    Label { text: "Different padding per side" }
}

6. Align Children

Alignment positions children within the remaining space of the container. Values range from 0.0 (start) to 1.0 (end) on each axis.

// Center everything
View {
    width: Fill height: 300
    align: Center
    Label { text: "I am centered" }
}

// Horizontal center only (children flow from top)
View {
    width: Fill height: Fit
    flow: Down
    align: HCenter
    Label { text: "I am horizontally centered" }
}

// Vertically center children in a horizontal row
View {
    width: Fill height: 60
    flow: Right spacing: 10
    align: Align { y: 0.5 }
    Label { text: "Vertically centered" draw_text.text_style.font_size: 14 }
    Label { text: "Small text" draw_text.text_style.font_size: 9 }
}

7. Control Clipping

// Clip overflow (default behavior)
View {
    width: 200 height: 100
    clip_x: true
    clip_y: true
    Label { text: "Very long text that will be clipped at the container boundary" }
}

// Allow overflow to be visible
View {
    width: 200 height: 100
    clip_x: false
    clip_y: false
    Label { text: "This text can overflow beyond the container" }
}

Important boundary: clip_x: false / clip_y: false only allow a local child to paint outside its parent. They do NOT turn that child into a true window-level overlay. If the UI element is a popup/menu/tooltip that should float independently of the local layout tree, use a top-level Modal/overlay owner instead of relying on local overflow.

8. Position Overlay Popups

For popup-style positioning inside an overlay (Modal, tooltip layer, popup owner), prefer walk.abs_pos over runtime margin tweaks.

• margin is layout spacing. It is best for nudging normal flow children.
• walk.abs_pos is an explicit turtle anchor for overlay-style placement.
• button.area().clipped_rect(cx) gives you the trigger's actual screen-space rect, including view_shift and clipping.
• For overlay content, compute the popup's absolute screen-space target, then write that into popup.walk.abs_pos = Some(dvec2(x, y)).

let button_rect = button.area().clipped_rect(cx);
let popup_pos = dvec2(button_rect.pos.x, button_rect.pos.y - 294.0);

if let Some(mut popup) = self.view(cx, ids!(popup)).borrow_mut() {
    popup.walk.abs_pos = Some(popup_pos);
}

Rule of thumb:

• Popup inside normal layout tree, only slight overflow needed: local child + clip_x/clip_y: false
• Popup anchored to a button but visually outside the component: top-level overlay + walk.abs_pos

Common mistake: Using script_apply_eval! to push margin.top / margin.left on overlay content and expecting stable popup coordinates. That often produces misleading results because you are still negotiating with layout, not explicitly anchoring the popup.

9. Use Scrollable Containers

// Vertical scrolling — the most common pattern
// Note: ScrollYView uses height: Fill (not Fit) to define the scroll viewport
ScrollYView {
    width: Fill height: Fill
    flow: Down padding: 10 spacing: 8
    Label { text: "Item 1" }
    Label { text: "Item 2" }
    Label { text: "Item 3" }
}

// Horizontal scrolling
ScrollXView {
    width: Fill height: 60
    flow: Right spacing: 10 padding: 10
    align: Align { y: 0.5 }
    Label { text: "Tab 1" }
    Label { text: "Tab 2" }
    Label { text: "Tab 3" }
}

// Both-axis scrolling
ScrollXYView {
    width: Fill height: Fill
    Label { text: "Large content that can be scrolled in both directions" }
}

When to use which:

• ScrollYView — page body, lists, vertical content. This is what you need 90% of the time.
• ScrollXView — horizontal tab bars, code scrolling, timeline views.
• ScrollXYView — 2D canvases, maps, spreadsheet-style content.

HARD RULE: Scrollable views use height: Fill (not height: Fit) because they need a fixed viewport to scroll within. The content inside grows beyond the viewport.

10. Use Filler (Spacer Widget)

Filler{} is equivalent to View{width: Fill height: Fill}. It pushes siblings apart.

HARD RULE: Only use Filler between width: Fit siblings.

Do NOT use Filler{} next to a width: Fill sibling. Both compete for remaining space, splitting it 50/50 and clipping text.

// CORRECT: Filler between Fit siblings
View {
    width: Fill height: Fit
    flow: Right
    align: Align { y: 0.5 }
    Label { text: "Left side" }
    Filler {}
    Label { text: "Right side" }
}

// WRONG: Filler next to a Fill sibling — text gets clipped
View {
    width: Fill height: Fit
    flow: Right
    Label { width: Fill text: "This gets clipped to half width" }
    Filler {}
    Label { text: "Tag" }
}

// CORRECT alternative: width: Fill naturally pushes Fit siblings
View {
    width: Fill height: Fit
    flow: Right
    View {
        width: Fill height: Fit
        flow: Down
        Label { text: "Title takes remaining space" }
        Label { text: "Subtitle" }
    }
    Label { text: "Tag" }
}

11. Apply new_batch: true for Background + Text

HARD RULE: When a container has show_bg: true (including SolidView, RoundedView, etc.) and contains Labels or other text, set new_batch: true on the container. Without it, text may render behind the background due to GPU draw call batching.

// CORRECT: new_batch ensures text draws on top of background
RoundedView {
    width: Fill height: Fit
    padding: 12 flow: Down
    draw_bg.color: #334
    draw_bg.border_radius: 8.0
    new_batch: true
    Label { text: "Visible text" draw_text.color: #fff }
}

12. Build Common Layout Patterns

Vertical Page Layout

View {
    width: Fill height: Fit
    flow: Down spacing: 16 padding: 20
    Label { text: "Page Title" draw_text.color: #fff draw_text.text_style.font_size: 18 }
    Label { text: "Subtitle text" draw_text.color: #aaa draw_text.text_style.font_size: 12 }
    Hr {}
    Label { text: "Body content goes here" draw_text.color: #ddd }
}

Horizontal Toolbar

SolidView {
    width: Fill height: 44
    flow: Right spacing: 8
    padding: Inset { left: 12 right: 12 }
    align: Align { y: 0.5 }
    draw_bg.color: #2a2a3d

    ButtonFlatter { text: "File" }
    ButtonFlatter { text: "Edit" }
    ButtonFlatter { text: "View" }
    Filler {}
    ButtonFlat { text: "Run" }
}

Card Grid with Wrapping

let Card = RoundedView {
    width: 180 height: Fit
    padding: 12 flow: Down spacing: 6
    draw_bg.color: #334
    draw_bg.border_radius: 8.0
    new_batch: true
    title := Label { text: "Card" draw_text.color: #fff draw_text.text_style.font_size: 12 }
    body := Label { text: "Content" draw_text.color: #aaa draw_text.text_style.font_size: 10 }
}

View {
    width: Fill height: Fit
    flow: Flow.Right { wrap: true }
    spacing: 10 padding: 16
    Card { title.text: "Design" body.text: "UI mockups" }
    Card { title.text: "Backend" body.text: "API endpoints" }
    Card { title.text: "Testing" body.text: "Unit tests" }
    Card { title.text: "Deploy" body.text: "CI/CD pipeline" }
}

Centered Content

View {
    width: Fill height: 400
    align: Center
    flow: Down spacing: 12
    Label { text: "Welcome" draw_text.color: #fff draw_text.text_style.font_size: 24 }
    Label { text: "Click below to get started" draw_text.color: #aaa }
    Button { text: "Get Started" }
}

Split Panel (Sidebar + Content)

// Simple approach with fixed sidebar
View {
    width: Fill height: Fill
    flow: Right
    SolidView {
        width: 250 height: Fill
        draw_bg.color: #1a1a2e
        flow: Down padding: 12 spacing: 8
        Label { text: "Navigation" draw_text.color: #fff draw_text.text_style.font_size: 14 }
        Label { text: "Home" draw_text.color: #aaa }
        Label { text: "Settings" draw_text.color: #aaa }
        Label { text: "About" draw_text.color: #aaa }
    }
    View {
        width: Fill height: Fill
        flow: Down padding: 20 spacing: 10
        Label { text: "Main Content" draw_text.color: #fff draw_text.text_style.font_size: 16 }
        Label { text: "Page body here" draw_text.color: #ddd }
    }
}

// Resizable approach with Splitter
Splitter {
    axis: SplitterAxis.Horizontal
    align: SplitterAlign.FromA(250.0)
    a := sidebar
    b := main_content
}
sidebar := SolidView {
    width: Fill height: Fill
    draw_bg.color: #1a1a2e
    flow: Down padding: 12
    Label { text: "Sidebar" draw_text.color: #fff }
}
main_content := View {
    width: Fill height: Fill
    flow: Down padding: 20
    Label { text: "Content" draw_text.color: #fff }
}

Fixed Header + Scrollable Body + Fixed Footer

View {
    width: Fill height: Fill
    flow: Down

    // Fixed header
    SolidView {
        width: Fill height: Fit
        padding: Inset { top: 12 bottom: 12 left: 20 right: 20 }
        draw_bg.color: #2a2a3d
        flow: Right
        align: Align { y: 0.5 }
        new_batch: true
        Label { text: "App Title" draw_text.color: #fff draw_text.text_style.font_size: 16 }
        Filler {}
        ButtonFlatter { text: "Settings" }
    }

    // Scrollable body (height: Fill takes remaining space)
    ScrollYView {
        width: Fill height: Fill
        flow: Down padding: 16 spacing: 10
        Label { text: "Scrollable content item 1" draw_text.color: #ddd }
        Label { text: "Scrollable content item 2" draw_text.color: #ddd }
        Label { text: "Scrollable content item 3" draw_text.color: #ddd }
        Label { text: "Scrollable content item 4" draw_text.color: #ddd }
        Label { text: "Scrollable content item 5" draw_text.color: #ddd }
    }

    // Fixed footer
    SolidView {
        width: Fill height: Fit
        padding: Inset { top: 8 bottom: 8 left: 20 right: 20 }
        draw_bg.color: #1e1e2e
        flow: Right
        align: Align { y: 0.5 }
        new_batch: true
        Label { text: "Status: Ready" draw_text.color: #888 draw_text.text_style.font_size: 10 }
        Filler {}
        Label { text: "v1.0" draw_text.color: #666 draw_text.text_style.font_size: 10 }
    }
}

Overlay / Modal Positioning

View {
    width: Fill height: 400
    flow: Overlay

    // Base layer — the page content
    View {
        width: Fill height: Fill
        flow: Down padding: 20
        Label { text: "Background page content" draw_text.color: #888 }
    }

    // Overlay layer — centered modal dialog
    View {
        width: Fill height: Fill
        align: Center
        RoundedView {
            width: 320 height: Fit
            padding: 20 flow: Down spacing: 12
            draw_bg.color: #2a2a3d
            draw_bg.border_radius: 12.0
            new_batch: true
            Label { text: "Confirm Action" draw_text.color: #fff draw_text.text_style.font_size: 16 }
            Label { text: "Are you sure you want to proceed?" draw_text.color: #aaa }
            View {
                width: Fill height: Fit
                flow: Right spacing: 8
                align: Align { x: 1.0 }
                ButtonFlat { text: "Cancel" }
                Button { text: "Confirm" }
            }
        }
    }
}

13. Apply UI/UX Best Practices (2026)

1. Start from the user task and information architecture, not decoration.
2. Map key states: empty, loading, success, error, disabled, permission-limited, offline, and responsive variants.
3. Apply accessibility requirements early: keyboard flow, focus visibility, labels, contrast, reduced motion, touch targets, text resizing, and semantic structure.
4. Use design-system primitives where available; otherwise define tokens for spacing, color, type, elevation, radius, and motion.
5. Design responsive layouts with stable dimensions and no text overlap across desktop and mobile.
6. Validate with realistic content, long labels, error text, and touch/keyboard interaction.
7. Deliver concrete implementation guidance, not vague aesthetic notes.

Pitfalls

1. Forgetting height: Fit on containers (NUMBER ONE BUG)

The default height is Fill. Fill inside Fit creates a circular dependency → 0px → invisible UI. Always set height: Fit on every View, SolidView, RoundedView unless inside a fixed-height or Fill-height parent chain.

2. Using Filler{} next to width: Fill siblings

Both compete for remaining space, splitting it 50/50 and clipping text. Use Filler only between width: Fit siblings.

3. Using height: Fit on ScrollYView

Scrollable views need a fixed viewport. Use height: Fill on ScrollYView/ScrollXView/ScrollXYView so they fill the parent and scroll content within that space.

4. Missing new_batch: true on background containers with text

When a container has show_bg: true (including SolidView, RoundedView) and contains Labels, text may render behind the background due to GPU draw call batching. Always set new_batch: true.

5. Using fixed pixel width on root container

Never use a fixed pixel width on the outermost container. It will not adapt to available space. Always use width: Fill on the root element.

6. Using margin for overlay popup positioning

margin is layout spacing, not an absolute anchor. For popups anchored to a button but visually outside the component, use a top-level overlay + walk.abs_pos with button.area().clipped_rect(cx). Using script_apply_eval! to push margin.top/margin.left on overlay content produces misleading results.

7. Expecting clip_x/clip_y: false to create window-level overlays

Local clip disabling only allows a child to paint outside its parent. It does NOT create a true floating overlay. Use a top-level Modal/overlay owner for popups, menus, and tooltips.

8. Forgetting trailing dot on float zero

Use margin: 0. (with trailing dot) for float literal zero, not margin: 0.

Verification

1. Check all containers have explicit height:

   • Search for View {, SolidView {, RoundedView { without height: on the same or next line
   • Every container must have height: Fit unless inside a fixed/Fill-height parent or is a ScrollView

2. Check no Filler next to width: Fill:

   • Search for Filler and verify both siblings use width: Fit (or fixed width)

3. Check ScrollViews use height: Fill:

   • Search for ScrollYView, ScrollXView, ScrollXYView — all must have height: Fill

4. Check new_batch on background containers:

   • Search for SolidView, RoundedView, and any View with draw_bg — if they contain Labels, verify new_batch: true is set

5. Check root container uses width: Fill:

   • The outermost View in any live block must use width: Fill, never a fixed pixel width

6. Visual smoke test:

   • Run the Makepad app and verify no invisible/zero-height regions
   • Verify text is not clipped in toolbar/card patterns
   • Verify scrollable content scrolls within its viewport
   • Verify overlay popups appear at the correct screen position

7. Accessibility check:

   • Verify keyboard navigation works through interactive elements
   • Verify sufficient color contrast (reference WCAG 2.2: https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG22/)
   • Verify touch targets meet minimum size requirements
   • Verify reduced-motion preferences are respected

Related Skills

• makepad-2-0-widgets — Widget catalog and property reference for all Makepad 2.0 widgets
• makepad-2-0-draw — Drawing and rendering primitives (draw_bg, draw_text, shaders)

References

• Layout pattern examples and complete code: Procedure §12 in this file
• Splash language manual: /splash.md
• Widget catalog: sibling skill makepad-2-0-widgets (when installed)
• W3C WCAG 2.2: https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG22/
• W3C Understanding WCAG 2.2: https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG22/Understanding/intro
• Apple Human Interface Guidelines: https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines
• Material Design: https://m3.material.io/
• Material accessibility guidance: https://m2.material.io/design/usability/accessibility.html