# Better layout

> Use when a layout's grouping, alignment and reading order need working out.

Helps with grouping, alignment, reading order, progressive disclosure and other details that make a good layout.

## Facts

- Type: Agent skill
- Discipline: Design
- Author: Jakub Krehel (https://github.com/jakubkrehel)
- Upstream: https://github.com/jakubkrehel/skills/blob/main/skills/better-layout/SKILL.md
- Source file: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jakubkrehel/skills/main/skills/better-layout/SKILL.md (5644 bytes, sha256:f04c8d870fca110c8003aa8c0c82a7e121642a18443dfb114ee3d774d466c141)
- Licence: MIT
- Upstream copy last changed: 2026-09-17
- Status: listed, not yet ruled on by the curator

## Use it

I want to use the Better layout skill by Jakub Krehel.
This is what it does, in the author's own words: Helps with grouping, alignment, reading order, progressive disclosure and other details that make a good layout.
Download the whole folder at https://github.com/jakubkrehel/skills/tree/main/skills/better-layout, SKILL.md and every file beside it, into your skills directory: ~/.claude/skills/better-layout/ for Claude Code, ~/.agents/skills/better-layout/ for Codex, ~/.cursor/skills/better-layout/ for Cursor. Get it from the author's repo, not from startupskills.dev.
Then tell me the path you installed it to and how to invoke it.

Nothing here is vendored: install from the author's repo, not from this site. A verbatim copy of the author's file follows for reading, under the licence reproduced after it; the current file is in the author's repo.

## Links

- Page: https://startupskills.dev/jakubkrehel/better-layout
- Author: https://startupskills.dev/jakubkrehel
- Index: https://startupskills.dev/llms.txt

## The file itself

---
name: better-layout
description: Helps with grouping, alignment, reading order, progressive disclosure and other details that make a good layout.
---

# Layout

Position, spacing and alignment carry hierarchy before a word is read. This skill builds that structure and stress-tests it: resize it, translate it, mirror it for RTL.

Write every fix in the project's styling system. The numbers below are starting points for interfaces with no established density system, and where one applies, use it as written rather than a familiar-looking substitute. Keep deliberate platform chrome, compact professional tools and project tokens where they still pass the stress tests.

Hit areas and focus behavior belong to `better-accessibility`. Radius, shadows and animation belong to `better-ui`. Line length and text spacing belong to `better-typography`.

## Group with space, not lines

Space groups first, background shapes second, separator lines last and only where space alone can't carry the structure. The gap between groups must be at least 2× the gap within one (`8px` intra-group to `16px`+ inter-group), or the grouping reads as noise. Alignment edges and importance ordering are in [grouping-and-alignment.md](grouping-and-alignment.md).

## Keep controls distinct from content

Give every interactive element a background shape, a border, or a consistent placement zone. A control styled like the static text beside it does not read as a control.

## Align to shared edges

Pick alignment edges and stick to them; every stray edge reads as noise. Use one project spacing step per level of subordination, where `16px` is a useful default.

Use logical properties for direction-dependent layout: `padding-inline-start`, `margin-inline-end`. Reserve physical left and right for genuinely physical geometry.

## Order by importance

The most important content sits near the top and the leading edge. Reading order flows top-to-bottom, leading-to-trailing. Think in leading and trailing, not left and right.

## Hint at hidden content

Progressive disclosure needs a visible affordance. Use the project's established cue, or let the next item peek `16–32px` past the scroll edge, or show a disclosure control. Content hidden with zero cue may as well not exist.

## Breathing room between targets

Without an established density system, start with `12px` between adjacent bordered or filled controls and `24px` around borderless text- and icon-only ones. Compact layouts may use less, as long as `better-accessibility` hit areas don't overlap and the controls stay distinct. Layout margins and breakpoint recipes are in [spacing-and-adaptivity.md](spacing-and-adaptivity.md).

## Inset buttons from the edges

In content layouts, keep full-width buttons inside the layout margins with a visible radius, starting near `16px` inline on mobile. Edge-to-edge actions work when they follow established platform chrome, account for safe areas and stay distinguishable from system UI.

## Content bleeds, controls float

Backgrounds and media extend to the viewport edges. Controls and text stay inside the layout margins and safe areas (`env(safe-area-inset-*)`). Sticky chrome floats above the content layer rather than blocking it.

## Hold structure until it breaks

Breakpoints come from the content, not device presets. Keep the expanded layout as long as it genuinely fits and collapse late. Prefer container queries for component-level adaptation, and test the smallest and largest sizes first.

## Plan for growth and clipping

Translated strings grow, and short ones grow proportionally more, so a one-word button label is the riskiest thing on the screen. Put no fixed width or height on a text container, and let rows wrap. Test with pseudo-localization and one representative locale rather than budgeting a percentage.

Never park a critical action where resizing or scrolling clips it. Keep it in the normal flow, or in stable chrome suited to the product.

## Before you finish

| Mistake | Fix |
| --- | --- |
| `margin-left` / `padding-right` in a localizable layout | `margin-inline-start` / `padding-inline-end` |
| Content-layout button touches the viewport edge | Inset within the project margins; keep intentional platform chrome |
| Breakpoints at 768/1024 because they're the defaults | Break where the content actually stops fitting |
| Fixed-width text container sized to one language | `max-width` and wrapping; test pseudo-localization |
| Primary action at the clip-prone bottom of a pane | Sticky positioning or stable chrome with safe-area padding |

## Reporting

**Severity.** `HIGH` blocks content or an action at a supported viewport. `MEDIUM` harms hierarchy, reading order, or adaptability. `LOW` is isolated alignment or spacing polish.

**Verification.** Without a browser: logical properties in place of physical ones, container and media queries against the supported viewport list and DOM order against the intended reading order. With one: every supported width, 200% zoom and the RTL mirror. Report every check you could not run as `Not verified`.

**Format.** Group findings under the principle each violates, ordered by severity, one row per root cause listing every location it appears in:

| Severity | Location | Before | After | Why |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |

`Location` is `path/to/file:line`. `Why` names the principle and the user impact.

End with `Block` when any `HIGH` remains, `Approve` otherwise, leaving the rest in the table as work to do. Never `Approve` coverage you did not inspect. With nothing to report, state "No actionable layout findings" and report verification.

## Licence of the file above

The file above is https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jakubkrehel/skills/main/skills/better-layout/SKILL.md, by Jakub Krehel, reproduced without changes.
- Source: https://github.com/jakubkrehel/skills/blob/main/skills/better-layout/SKILL.md
- Copyright: Copyright (c) 2026 Jakub Krehel
- Licence: MIT, https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jakubkrehel/skills/main/LICENSE

The repo's licence file, verbatim from https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jakubkrehel/skills/main/LICENSE:

MIT License

Copyright (c) 2026 Jakub Krehel

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
SOFTWARE.