Best Practices for Layouts in Engine Awesome
Layouts in Engine Awesome are highly flexible, allowing you to design interfaces that fit your needs. Here are some best practices to consider:
- Group Your Blocks: All blocks should be placed inside a group, row, or stack block to allow for optimal design flexibility and better control over layout structure. This ensures that blocks can be easily arranged and modified to suit your design preferences, improving the overall user experience.
- “Add New” and “Delete” Buttons: While Engine Awesome doesn’t add these by default, they are usual required and can be placed on any layout. Including buttons to add new records or delete existing ones gives users a clear way to manage data directly from layouts.
- Pagination: When dealing with large datasets, it’s important to incorporate pagination. It helps keep the layout clean and manageable, preventing the display of an overwhelming number of records on a single page. You can set how many items to show per page to enhance navigation.
- Radio Buttons vs. Dropdowns: In an edit view, radio buttons can take up a lot of space. To conserve space, consider using a dropdown field instead. Dropdowns offer the same functionality but in a more compact format, especially when dealing with numerous options.
- Tailor Layouts to Your Needs: You don’t have to use every field on a single layout. Engine Awesome gives you the flexibility to create multiple layouts and link between them using buttons. This way, you can create focused layouts that highlight only the most relevant information.
- Highlight Important Fields: To emphasize key information, you can reorder fields in your layout. Placing the most important fields at the top of your page ensures they are immediately visible and easily accessible.
- Layout Flexibility: Remember, layouts can be changed and updated at any time. If your data needs evolve or your workflow changes, you can always revisit and adjust your layout design to suit your new requirements. This flexibility ensures your application grows with your business.
- Use Tab Panels for Organization: To keep your layout clean and organized, especially when you have multiple sections of data, consider using a Tab Panel. This allows you to group content into different tabs, so users can easily navigate between different sections without cluttering the page.
- Use the Undo Button: There’s an undo option, but if mistakes occur, refreshing the page may be simpler as only saved items will reload.
By following these practices, you’ll create layouts that are intuitive, efficient, and aligned with how you manage data in Engine Awesome.