Auto layout is coming to Sketch

Auto layout is coming to Sketch

ICYMI, we recently announced that auto layout is coming to Sketch.

Hi everyone! 

As you might’ve seen on our socials 19 and website 35, we’re working on a new layout feature similar to Figma’s “Auto Layout”, XD and Framer’s “Stacks”, and Penpot’s “Flex Layout”. No, we haven’t yet decided what we’ll call it, but that’s not important right now.

I’m opening this thread to hear from y’all here in the forum. We want to know your wishes and expectations for this feature, and have a chance to ask you questions about it.

Here’s some prompts to get the conversation going:

• What features and properties are non-negotiable, period?
• What’s something you think that could live without? At least for a while?
• Is there something that one of these apps does well that you think we should too?
• Is there something that none of these apps do but you think we should?

Before passing it on to you, I want to be upfront and honest about a few things:

• We won’t model it 1:1 on CSS’s Flexbox. We don’t want to follow any one platform’s implementation too closely but instead the principles they all share: to provide an automated and composable stacking layout feature that gives designers the ability to define systematic rules, but also some flexibility within those rules.
• We won’t be doing everything. We’ll use your feedback to help us shape the feature, and our goal is to provide loads of depth, but not overwhelm with complexity. Finding this balance is hard, and may require leaving out specific things you’ve requested.
• It’ll take time to go all the way. We’ve got a small team on this (me, 2 engineers, 1 QA), so we won’t immediately reach the level of depth we’re aiming for. But our plan is to give you something earlier and keep on iterating, rather than waiting until it’s “done”.

We’ll be sharing occasional updates here about how the feature is shaping up, and we also aim to be honest and transparent with you about anything that might not make the cut.

That’s it from me! Please give us any and all feedback, and thanks for being here.