Layouts
A layout is how the panels around the canvas are arranged. OpenX keeps yours for you: arrange a workspace once, and it opens the same way next time, on any computer you sign in from.
What a layout is
A layout says which panels are open, where each one sits, how big it is, which tab a group shows, and which panels float in their own windows. It does not hold what a panel shows: the canvas keeps its own zoom and position, and Thinky keeps its own conversation.
There are three kinds:
| Kind | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| Your layout | How you left this workspace. OpenX keeps it as you work; there is nothing to save. |
| Named layouts | Arrangements you saved under a name, to apply in any workspace. |
| Workspace layouts | Arrangements saved to a workspace for everyone in it, by people who hold Manage workspace layouts (every owner holds it). |
The five ready-made layouts (Default, Quadrants, Build, Monitor and Review) are always there under Workspace > Layouts > Shipped layouts. They never change.
Which layout opens
When you open a workspace, OpenX shows the first of these that you have:
- The same layout in every workspace, when you have turned that setting on.
- Your layout for this workspace.
- The built-in Default.
Your layout arrives with the page. When you open or refresh a workspace, the first arrangement drawn is your own, on any computer you sign in from: the Default never shows first and then snaps to your layout. The Default is drawn first only when you have no layout yet. If OpenX cannot fetch your layout while it builds the page, the workspace opens in the Default and moves to your layout as soon as it is read.
A workspace layout never opens by itself. It becomes yours only when you apply it, and then it is your own copy: when its owner changes it later, your arrangement stays as it is.
One for each kind of screen
OpenX keeps a separate layout for each kind of screen, so a phone never rearranges your desktop:
| Kind of screen | What it is |
|---|---|
| Phone | A touch screen with a shorter side up to 500 px |
| Tablet | A touch-first screen (no mouse) larger than that |
| Desktop | Anything you use with a mouse, at any size |
How you use the screen decides, not how big it is: a small laptop window used with a mouse is still a desktop and keeps your desktop layout. A phone turned sideways stays a phone, because its shorter side is what counts. OpenX reads this when you open the workspace. A tablet and a phone follow your desktop layout until you change them there; from then on each keeps its own.
What a layout keeps
A layout holds every panel you have open: Thinky, the canvas, the Inspector, Proposals and the Live Stream, and with them each surface's tab, each node's editor, each set-up or run window and each record's details. After a reload they all come back where they were. A record's details come back in the same browser tab only, because the record is kept in that tab.
Applying a layout, or Reset to one, arranges the panels every workspace has as that layout says, and keeps every other panel you have open. A panel the layout does not place goes back where it first opened: a surface's tab beside the Workflow canvas, any other panel floating at the right. The panels every workspace has follow the layout, so Build still closes Proposals and the Live Stream. Undo on the notice gives back the arrangement you had before.
A panel whose node was deleted is not brought back, and leaves no gap. A layout applied in another workspace brings a node's panel only where that node is.
When a workspace lacks a panel the layout names, the layout keeps its place, marked with the panel's name, so the arrangement is the same when you go back.
When an update to OpenX adds a panel, it arrives closed, and you see one line once, such as "New panel: Proposals. Open it from View." A panel you closed yourself stays closed, with no line.
Kept for you as you work
There is no Save button for a layout. A moment after you move, close or resize a panel, OpenX keeps the change on the server, so it follows you to another computer. Each layout is yours alone: a teammate arranging the same workspace never changes yours.
- Two tabs of one browser: a change in one shows in the other at once, with no question.
- Your other computer: when you come back to a window, it checks for a newer layout and shows it. If you changed the layout in both places, it keeps the newer one and offers the other in one quiet line. Nothing is lost: both are in the history.
- Offline: the workspace keeps working with the layout it has, and keeps your change as soon as it can reach OpenX again.
History and reset
Each layout keeps its last 20 versions. The layout OpenX keeps for you adds one version for each sitting, not one for each move: moves made close together update the newest version. A new version starts after 30 quiet minutes, or when you open the workspace again. Applying a layout, resetting it, and choosing Use that one on the other-computer line also start a new version. So 20 versions reach back days or weeks, not the last twenty moves. A named or workspace layout keeps one version each time you save it.
Restoring a version makes it the newest version, so a restore can be undone too. Only versions age out: a layout itself is never dropped by its history.
Once you move something after applying a layout, the picker marks it (modified) and offers Reset to that layout. Only you can reset your own layout.
Compact or comfortable spacing
Panels start compact: slim title bars and tight padding, so more of each panel fits on the screen. If you would rather have more room, tick Comfortable spacing at the foot of Workspace > Layouts. Every panel re-spaces at once, together: taller title bars, roomier padding and larger controls. Tick it again to go back to compact.
Spacing is your own setting, not part of a layout. It stays the same whichever layout you apply, in every workspace, and it follows you to any computer you sign in from. A teammate's choice never changes yours.
Related
- Saving and sharing layouts: every action, step by step.
- The View Menu and Layouts: the View menu and the five shipped layouts.
- My layout looks different: when a layout is not the one you expected.
- Panels and Windows: what a panel and a window are.