Frames, shapes and gridify in Layout by Zaweba

Every page in a layout is built from boxes. Some hold text, some hold pictures, some are just coloured shapes that give the page its structure. Layout by Zaweba has two families of drawing tools for this: frames, which are containers for text or pictures, and shapes, which are graphic objects in their own right, plus a Line tool and a trick called gridify that draws a whole grid of frames in one drag.

Frames versus shapes

Rectangle, ellipse and polygon frames are the containers. Draw one and it is ready to receive text or a picture: place a photo into an ellipse frame for a round portrait, or type into a polygon frame for a badge. Frames are what you plan a page with before the content arrives, so a magazine template can have its picture boxes and text columns drawn in place, waiting.

Rectangle, ellipse, polygon and star shapes are for graphics: a coloured panel behind a pull quote, a starburst on a sale poster, a circle that marks a price. They take fills, strokes and effects like any object. The Line tool draws straight lines for rules, dividers and leader lines on diagrams.

The difference is mostly about intention. Starting with the right one keeps the document tidy and makes later jobs, such as finding all empty picture frames, give sensible answers. Live preflight can flag empty frames, and that check is most useful when frames are only used where content is meant to go.

Gridify: drawing rows and columns of frames

Gridify is the quickest way to lay out a grid. While you are dragging out a frame, press the arrow keys to add columns and rows of frames. Instead of one rectangle you get a neat set of them, evenly spaced across the area you dragged.

It suits contact sheet style pages, product grids in a catalogue, a page of team photos, a calendar and any layout where a set of boxes must line up. Drawing the grid in one action means the frames start out aligned and equal, which is much better than drawing one, duplicating it and trying to line the copies up by eye.

Once a grid is drawn, the usual tools still apply. Align and distribute can tidy any frames you move, and the Gap tool works on the spaces between them.

Drawing frames accurately

Smart guides help as you draw: they snap to other frames' edges and centres and show equal spacing and sizes. For exact sizes, draw roughly and then type the values into the Control bar or the Transform panel, which show X, Y, width and height for the selected frame. Margins and column guides give you a structure to draw against, so frames on one page line up with frames on the next.

Hold onto proportions where they matter. A picture frame for a square photo should be square; a circular portrait needs an ellipse with equal width and height, not one that is nearly round.

Mistakes that make frames hard to work with

Drawing text in shapes intended as graphics, or graphics in frames meant for text, muddles the document. Choose the right tool from the start.

Stacking frames on top of each other to fake a layout makes selecting difficult later. Use layers to separate backgrounds from content, and lock what shouldn't move.

Drawing frames that only nearly line up is the most common one. A frame two points off its neighbour is invisible on screen and obvious in print. Use smart guides, gridify and exact values rather than dragging by eye.

How frames feed the rest of Layout

Frames are where most of Layout's other tools act. Text frames thread together to carry a story and have their own options for columns and insets. Picture frames have fitting options, so a photo can fill or fit the box. Shapes take corner options, strokes, gradients and effects, and Pathfinder can combine them into new outlines. A page that starts as a clean set of frames is a page every other tool can work with easily.