Constraints

Apply constraints to design responsive and adapt across screen sizes

Constraints allow you to control how elements behave in relation to their parent container. When you set constraints for an element, it ensures the element maintains a consistent position relative to the container, even when the screen size changes. This helps in creating a responsive design, ensuring that your layouts look good on various devices.

Automatic constraints

When you add an element to a section, container or grid cell, and drag it around, it is automatically docked:

• To the top of the parent element (container, stack, etc.).

• And to the left or right edge of the parent element - whichever is the closest.

In the example below, the text element is automatically docked to the top and right sides of the container.

You can observe this when dragging the element and via the Inspector panel. The Constraints are indicated by the dashed blue lines surrounding it.

Steps to enable automatic constraints:

1. Click on the element you want to set the auto constraints to open its Inspector panel.

2. Under the General tab, click Auto constraints elements.

Manual constraints

You can override the auto constraints elements feature, and set the position manually from the Inspector.

Steps:

1. Select the relevant element.

2. In the Inspector panel > General tab, locate the Constraints section.

3. Select the 2 constraint points (top or bottom, left or right).

Click the Center if you want to make the element always in the center.

4. Enter the value for constraints. This can be considered as the margin between the selected element and the edge of its parent.

Measurement units for constraints:

• Horizontal constraints (left or right): Percentage (%).

• Vertical constraints (top or bottom): Pixels (px).

For example, if a text element's constraints are set as 10% for the Left and 100px for the Top, the element will stay to the left-right even as the screen size changes:

• On a container width of 1265px, the margin between the element and the container's left edge is 126.5px, and the margin-top of the element with the container is 100px.

• On a container width is resized to 900px, the margin between the element and the container's left edge is 10% of 900 = 90px, and the margin-top of the element with the container is 100px.

You can apply constraints to any layer/element.

• You can apply constraints to frames you have nested within other frames.

• You can't apply constraints to elements included in a stack with the stack border.

Use alignment tools

To quickly align elements, you can use the option for the section's position alignment. This will override the current constraints.