{{Unreferenced, date=June 2010 In

computing Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computer, computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and the development of both computer hardware, hardware and softw ...

, layout is the process of calculating the position of objects in space subject to various constraints. This functionality can be part of an application or packaged as a reusable

component Component may refer to: In engineering, science, and technology Generic systems *System components, an entity with discrete structure, such as an assembly or software module, within a system considered at a particular level of analysis * Lumped e ...

library A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

Examples

Page layout In graphic design, page layout is the arrangement of visual elements on a page. It generally involves organizational principles of composition to achieve specific communication objectives. The high-level page layout involves deciding on the ...

is the computation of the position of the paragraphs, tabs, sentences, words and letters of a text. This is done by

desktop publishing Desktop publishing (DTP) is the creation of documents using dedicated software on a personal ("desktop") computer. It was first used almost exclusively for print publications, but now it also assists in the creation of various forms of online co ...

software,

typesetting Typesetting is the composition of text for publication, display, or distribution by means of arranging physical ''type'' (or ''sort'') in mechanical systems or '' glyphs'' in digital systems representing '' characters'' (letters and other ...

software, and

web browser A web browser, often shortened to browser, is an application for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's scr ...

s. These programs typically have dedicated layout routines to calculate the correct position of glyphs and embedded images. * Some

widget toolkit A widget toolkit, widget library, GUI toolkit, or UX library is a library (computing), library or a collection of libraries containing a set of graphical control elements (called ''widgets'') used to construct the graphical user interface (GUI) of ...

s include a

layout manager Layout managers are software components used in widget toolkits which have the ability to lay out graphical control elements by their relative positions without using distance units. It is often more natural to define component layouts in this mann ...

. This component automatically calculates a widget's position based on alignment constraints without the need for the programmer to specify absolute coordinates. *

Graph drawing Graph drawing is an area of mathematics and computer science combining methods from geometric graph theory and information visualization to derive two-dimensional depictions of graph (discrete mathematics), graphs arising from applications such ...

software automatically determine the position of the vertexes and edges of a graph with various goals like minimization of the number of edge intersections, minimization of total area or production of an aesthetically pleasing result. *

Electronic design automation Electronic design automation (EDA), also referred to as electronic computer-aided design (ECAD), is a category of software tools for designing Electronics, electronic systems such as integrated circuits and printed circuit boards. The tools wo ...

tools for the

place and route Place and route (also called PnR or P&R) is a stage in the design of printed circuit boards, integrated circuits, and field-programmable gate arrays. As implied by the name, it is composed of two steps, placement and routing. The first step, p ...

step.

Examples

See also