LattikaChapter 3 of 13
Layouts
A layout is a set of zones. Each display uses one layout at a time. Lattika comes with a few starter layouts, offers templates and ready-made presets, and lets you draw your own in the editor (chapter 4).
The starter layouts
A fresh install has six layouts:
| Name | Zones |
|---|---|
| Columns | 2 equal columns |
| Three Columns | 3 equal columns |
| Priority Grid | A wide centre zone with a narrower one on each side. This is the default. |
| Grid | 2 × 2 |
| Rows | 2 equal rows |
| Focus | 3 large overlapping zones, stepped diagonally |
Templates
Templates are families of layouts. When you create a layout from a template you choose the number of zones, from 1 to 9, and Lattika arranges them.
| Template | What it makes |
|---|---|
| Columns | Equal columns side by side. Drag the dividers afterwards to change their widths. |
| Rows | Equal rows, top to bottom. |
| Grid | Zones as close to square as possible. The number of rows is the square root of the zone count, rounded down, and earlier rows get the extra zones. 5 zones become a row of 3 over a row of 2, with equal widths within each row. |
| Priority Grid | One dominant zone with smaller companions. 2 zones: a 60/40 split. 3: narrow, wide, narrow. 4: a full-height left column, a full-height centre, and a right column split in two. 5: tall centre, both sides split. 6: three columns by two rows with a wide centre. 7 or more: the same as Grid. |
| Focus | Overlapping zones, each 60 % of the screen, stepped diagonally so every zone's top-left corner stays reachable. Good for one main window with others peeking out. |
| Blank | An empty canvas. Draw the zones yourself. |
Focus and Blank layouts are canvas layouts: their zones are free rectangles that may overlap. The others are grid layouts, whose zones are cells of a grid that may be merged. The editor is different for each kind (chapter 4).
Presets
Presets are finished layouts with a name and a one-line description, grouped by the kind of display they suit. When you create a new layout, the sheet first shows the presets suggested for the displays attached right now, then every group.
| Group | Presets |
|---|---|
| Standard monitors | Halves, Thirds, Main + Sidebar, Sidebar + Main, Golden Ratio, Quarters, Main + Two Stacked, Two Stacked + Main, Top + Bottom, Six Pack |
| Ultrawide (21:9) | Center Stage, Center + Stacked Sides, Ultrawide Thirds, Four Columns, Main + Two Columns |
| Super ultrawide (32:9) | Two Monitors, Two Monitors Each Split, Triple with Stacked Sides, Command Center, Monitor + Quads, Six Across, Eight Zones |
| Laptop | Laptop Focus, Laptop Split, Main + Notes, Overlapping Pair |
| Portrait | Portrait Halves, Portrait Thirds, Main + Bottom, Top + Main |
| 4K / 5K | Nine Grid, Main + Four, Developer Triptych, Centered Main + Wings |
| Focus & media | Reading Column, Centered Pair, Picture in Picture, Presenter |
A display is classed by its shape and size: the built-in screen of a MacBook counts as Laptop; a screen taller than wide as Portrait; a very wide one as Ultrawide or Super ultrawide; a high-resolution one as 4K / 5K as well. The Focus & media group is never suggested on its own but is always listed.
Which layout a display uses
Each display uses, in this order:
- The layout assigned to that display.
- Otherwise the default layout.
- Otherwise the first layout in the list.
You can assign a layout in four ways:
- Menu bar: click the layout's picture in the display's row. The zones flash to confirm.
- Editor: in the inspector, under Use on, turn on the display. Make Default makes the selected layout the default for displays without an assignment.
- Keyboard: ⌃⌥⌘↓ switches the display under the pointer to the next layout in the list, ⌃⌥⌘↑ to the previous one. The list wraps around.
- Shortcuts app: the Apply Layout action (chapter 9).
Displays, docking and resolutions
An assignment belongs to a display at a given size of its usable area. The usable area is the screen minus the menu bar and the Dock. So the same physical display gets a separate assignment when:
- you change its resolution or scaling in System Settings;
- the Dock moves to or from it, which happens when you connect or disconnect another display and the Dock follows;
- it is rotated.
This is what makes a laptop remember different layouts docked and undocked. With the lid open at a desk, the external display has its own assignment, and the built-in screen, whose usable area changed because the Dock moved, has another. Unplug everything and the built-in screen is back at its original size and its original layout.
The first time a display appears at a new size it uses the default layout. Assign a layout to it once and Lattika remembers it for the next time.
An assignment for a display that is not attached stays saved and is used again when the display comes back at the same size.
Show Zones
To see the zones without dragging anything, choose Show Zones in the menu or press ⌃⌥Z. The zones of every display appear for about a second.
By default the zones also flash when a display's layout changes. Turn that off with Settings › Zones › Flash zones when a layout changes.
If it does not work
- The menu shows a different layout for a display than you expect. The display's usable area changed, for example because the Dock moved or the resolution changed, so it fell back to the default layout. Assign the layout again; both sizes are remembered.
- The zones on screen look different from the editor. The editor shows the zones for one reference display, named in its footer. Another display has another usable area, so the zones scale. Spacing and padding are in points and stay the same.
- A zone number in a shortcut or rule points at the wrong place. Zone numbers follow the layout the display is using right now. Switching layouts changes what zone 3 means.