Better Layout

Jakub KrehelCommunityCreated by Jakub Krehel

Skill
Guidelines
Software development
MIT
No issues found

From the author

Sets grouping, alignment, reading order, responsive structure and room for translated text, so a layout holds up when it is resized, translated or mirrored.

— the description by Jakub Krehel

AutoGineer summary

Written by AutoGineer from the skill’s own files, not by the author

Better-layout provides a set of principles and technical patterns for creating robust user interfaces. It emphasizes logical properties over physical ones to ensure layouts remain functional when mirrored for RTL languages or resized across different viewports. The skill focuses on grouping, alignment, and responsive structure, providing specific guidance on how to handle content growth, avoid clipping, and maintain clear visual hierarchies. It includes a structured approach to auditing layouts, identifying common CSS pitfalls, and verifying responsiveness through stress-testing.

What it does

Defines principles for grouping elements using space rather than lines.
Provides patterns for logical CSS properties to support RTL mirroring.
Establishes rules for responsive design using container queries and content-based breakpoints.
Offers a checklist for identifying and fixing common layout issues like overflow and clipping.
Standardizes the use of spacing and alignment to ensure consistent visual hierarchy.
Provides a reporting framework for auditing layout integrity and accessibility.

When to use it

When building or auditing responsive web components.
When preparing an application for internationalization and RTL support.
When troubleshooting layout breakage during resizing or zooming.
When establishing a consistent spacing and grouping system for a project.
When verifying that interactive controls remain distinct and accessible.

Advantages

Ensures layouts remain stable across diverse screen sizes and zoom levels.
Reduces maintenance by promoting logical CSS properties over hardcoded physical values.
Improves internationalization readiness by accounting for text growth and mirroring.
Provides clear, actionable criteria for auditing and fixing layout defects.
Promotes a clean, predictable visual structure that enhances user comprehension.

Usage examples

“Audit my current CSS layout for RTL compatibility.”: The agent will review the codebase for physical properties like 'left' or 'right' and suggest replacing them with logical equivalents like 'inline-start' or 'inline-end', while checking for mirrored UI elements.
“Why is my flex container overflowing when the text inside is long?”: The agent will identify the lack of 'min-width: 0' on the flex child or 'minmax(0, 1fr)' on the grid track and provide the necessary CSS fix to allow the container to shrink correctly.

Install

Download the skill as a ZIP:
https://autogineer.com/agent-skills/jakubkrehel/better-layout/download

Unzip it into the cross-client skills folder of your project:

mkdir -p .agents/skills && unzip better-layout.zip -d .agents/skills

Documentation by Jakub Krehel

Layout

This skill sets grouping, alignment, spacing and responsive structure. It then stress-tests that structure by resizing it, translating it and mirroring it for RTL.

Write every fix in the project's styling system. The numbers below apply only where the project has no spacing scale or density system; otherwise use its tokens. A finding needs a failure you can show, such as a clip, an overlap, a broken mirror or a misread group. A value that differs from these starting points is not one.

Hit areas and focus behavior belong to better-accessibility. Radius, shadows and animation belong to better-ui. Line length, text spacing and truncation mechanics belong to better-typography. The words themselves belong to better-writing.

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 is at least 2× the gap within one, so 8px inside a group means 16px or more between groups. Recipes are in grouping-and-alignment.md.

Keep controls distinct from content

Give every interactive element a background shape, a border, an underline or a consistent placement zone such as a toolbar. A control styled like the static text beside it does not read as a control. See grouping-and-alignment.md.

Align to shared edges

Pick a small set of alignment edges and put everything on them. Use one project spacing step per level of nesting, where 16px is a useful default. See grouping-and-alignment.md.

Logical properties for anything that mirrors

Write direction-dependent layout as leading and trailing: margin-inline-start, padding-inline-end, inset-inline-start, text-align: start. Reserve physical left and right for physical geometry such as safe-area insets. The mapping table and the RTL progression rules are in grouping-and-alignment.md.

Order by importance

The most important content sits near the top and the leading edge. Within a row, identifying content leads and metadata and actions trail. Visual order matches DOM order, so never move content out of source sequence with order, row-reverse or grid placement. See grouping-and-alignment.md.

One primary action per view

Give each view one primary action. Put secondary actions behind a menu once there are more than 3. Prefer a short view that links deeper over one long view that shows everything at the top level. better-colors owns how color marks the primary action.

Hint at hidden content

Every piece of off-screen or collapsed content needs a visible cue. Use the project's established cue, let the next item peek 16–32px past the scroll edge or show a disclosure control.

A truncated value the user needs has a way to the full text: an expand control, a detail view or a tooltip that is also keyboard-reachable. Truncation mechanics are better-typography's. Recipes are in spacing-and-adaptivity.md.

Borderless controls need more clearance

Without an established density system, start with 12px between adjacent bordered or filled controls. Leave 24px between the visible glyphs of borderless text and icon controls, counting each button's own padding. Compact layouts may use less, as long as hit areas never overlap and the controls stay distinct. See spacing-and-adaptivity.md.

Inset buttons from the edges

In content layouts, keep full-width buttons inside the layout margins, 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. See spacing-and-adaptivity.md.

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-*) is non-zero only when the viewport meta includes viewport-fit=cover.

Content scrolls beneath sticky chrome. Set scroll-padding-block-start to the sticky header's height, so anchored targets and focused elements never land under it. See spacing-and-adaptivity.md.

Hold structure until it breaks

Breakpoints come from the content, not device presets. Keep the expanded layout until it stops fitting, then collapse. Prefer container queries for component-level adaptation, and test the smallest and largest supported sizes first. See spacing-and-adaptivity.md.

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. Size text containers with max-width and min-height, never a fixed width or height, and let rows wrap. Test with pseudo-localization and one long-string locale such as German.

Never park a critical action where resizing, zoom or scrolling clips it. Keep it in the normal flow or in stable chrome. See spacing-and-adaptivity.md.

Before you finish

Detection pattern	Fix
`grid-template-columns: … 1fr` or a flex child holding long text or a wide table, overflowing its track	`minmax(0, 1fr)` on the track, `min-width: 0` on the flex child
`width: 100vw`	`width: 100%`; `100vw` includes the scrollbar and scrolls horizontally on desktop
`height: 100vh` on a full-height mobile pane	`100dvh`, so the browser toolbar and keyboard never cover the bottom
`height:` with a fixed length on a box holding text	`min-height`, or `max-height` with `overflow-y: auto`
`@media (max-width: …)` inside a reusable component	`@container` on the component's parent
`container-type: inline-size` on a flex item, inline-block or absolute element with no width	Give it a definite width; size containment collapses a shrink-to-fit box to zero
`env(safe-area-inset-*)` with no `viewport-fit=cover` in the viewport meta	Add it, or the insets resolve to `0`
`inset-inline-` or `-inline-*` combined with `safe-area-inset-left` or `-right`	Physical `left` or `right` with the matching inset, plus a `[dir="rtl"]` override
`float: left` on mirrored UI	`float: inline-start`
`translateX` or `background-position: left` on mirrored UI	A `[dir="rtl"]` override; neither has a logical form
Sticky header with no `scroll-padding-block-start`	Set it to the header height

Reporting

Severity. HIGH blocks content or an action at a supported viewport. Clipping or overlap at 320px width or 200% zoom is always HIGH, as is truncated content with no way to the full value. So is content past a scroll edge or behind a disclosure with no visible cue. MEDIUM harms hierarchy, reading order or adaptability. LOW is isolated alignment or spacing polish.

Verification. Without a browser, check logical properties in place of physical ones, container and media queries against the supported viewport list and DOM order against visual order. With one, check every supported width, 320px, 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.

Files

ATTRIBUTION.mdAdded by AutoGineer861 B
LICENSELicence file added by AutoGineer1.0 KiB
SKILL.md8.2 KiB
agents/openai.yaml117 B
grouping-and-alignment.md3.8 KiB
spacing-and-adaptivity.md5.7 KiB

spacing-and-adaptivity.md

Spacing and adaptivity

Recipes for control clearance, edge insets, disclosure cues, edge behavior, breakpoints and growth.

Borderless controls need more clearance

Between	Starting point
Adjacent bordered or filled controls, such as buttons and inputs	`12px`
Visible glyphs of borderless controls, such as text and icon buttons	`24px`
Unrelated control groups	`24px` or more

Nothing marks where one borderless target ends and the next begins, so the space is the boundary. Preserve an established, usable density rather than expanding controls to match these values.

<!-- Good: bordered buttons at 12px -->
<div class="flex gap-3">
  <button class="rounded-lg border px-4 py-2">Cancel</button>
  <button class="rounded-lg bg-blue-600 px-4 py-2 text-white">Save</button>
</div>

<!-- Bad: three borderless icon buttons packed at 4px -->
<div class="flex gap-1">
  <button><TrashIcon /></button>
  <button><ArchiveIcon /></button>
  <button><ShareIcon /></button>
</div>

Target sizes and hit-area expansion belong to better-accessibility. Space controls so their expanded hit areas never overlap.

Inset buttons from the edges

A button pressed against the viewport looks like system chrome and clips against curved corners and gesture zones.

/* Good: inset action bar */
.action-bar {
  padding-inline: 16px;
  padding-bottom: calc(16px + env(safe-area-inset-bottom));
}
.action-bar button { width: 100%; }

/* Bad: button glued to three edges, and 100vw adds the scrollbar width */
.action-bar button {
  width: 100vw;
  position: fixed;
  bottom: 0;
}

The button can still span the full content width inside the margins.

Hint at hidden content

Peeking items. A row of cards that ends exactly at the container edge looks complete, and nobody scrolls it.
Disclosure controls. A collapsed section gets a chevron or a "Show more" control naming what is hidden: "Show 12 more results", not "More".
Truncated values. Pair the clamp with an expand control, a link to a detail view or a tooltip that also opens on keyboard focus. A hover-only title attribute does not count, because keyboard and touch users never see it.

The item width sets the peek: width = 100% + gap − peek, since 100% is the container's content box. Scroll padding keeps snapped items on the content edge.

.scroller {
  display: flex;
  gap: 12px;
  overflow-x: auto;
  padding-inline: 24px;
  scroll-padding-inline: 24px;
  scroll-snap-type: x mandatory;
}
.scroller > * {
  flex: 0 0 calc(100% - 12px); /* content box + 12px gap - 24px peek */
  scroll-snap-align: start;
}

<!-- Tailwind: the same 24px peek -->
<div class="flex gap-3 overflow-x-auto px-6 scroll-px-6 snap-x snap-mandatory">
  <div class="w-[calc(100%-12px)] shrink-0 snap-start">…</div>
  <div class="w-[calc(100%-12px)] shrink-0 snap-start">…</div>
</div>

Content bleeds, controls float

/* Good: full-bleed media inside a constrained article */
.article {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: 1fr min(65ch, calc(100% - 48px)) 1fr;
}
.article > * { grid-column: 2; }
.article > .full-bleed { grid-column: 1 / -1; }

Safe-area insets are physical, so a floating button pairs each physical side with its own inset and overrides it in RTL:

<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1, viewport-fit=cover">

.fab {
  position: fixed;
  right: calc(16px + env(safe-area-inset-right));
  bottom: calc(16px + env(safe-area-inset-bottom));
}
[dir="rtl"] .fab {
  right: auto;
  left: calc(16px + env(safe-area-inset-left));
}

/* Sticky header never covers an anchor target or a focused element */
html { scroll-padding-block-start: var(--header-height); }

Hold structure until it breaks

Break where the layout stops fitting, not at 768px because a preset says so. That is where the sidebar squeezes content below its minimum measure, or a card grid drops below a usable column width.

/* Good: component adapts to its container */
.card-list { container-type: inline-size; }
@container (width < 400px) {
  .card { grid-template-columns: 1fr; }
}

/* Bad: viewport media query breaks the card inside a narrow sidebar */
@media (max-width: 768px) {
  .card { grid-template-columns: 1fr; }
}

A query styles only descendants of the container, never the container itself. container-type: inline-size adds size containment, so the container no longer takes its width from its content. A shrink-to-fit container such as a flex item with no width, an inline-block or an absolutely positioned box collapses to zero.

Plan for growth and clipping

/* Good: label defines the size, and the row wraps */
.button { padding-inline: 16px; max-width: 100%; }
.button-row { display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; gap: 12px; }

/* Bad: German will overflow or truncate */
.button { width: 96px; overflow: hidden; }

A grid track or flex child refuses to shrink below its content's minimum width, so long words and wide tables push the layout past the viewport. Use grid-template-columns: minmax(0, 1fr) and min-width: 0 on flex children.

Fixed-height containers clip text at 200% zoom and in long locales. Use min-height where a floor is needed. Where a box must cap its height, pair max-height with overflow-y: auto.

Typical clip-prone spots are the bottom edge of a resizable pane, the bottom of a modal taller than the viewport and anything the on-screen keyboard covers:

Size full-height panes with 100dvh, not 100vh, which ignores mobile browser toolbars.
Give a modal max-height: 100dvh, a scrolling body and an action row outside the scroll area.
Keep primary actions in stable chrome, such as a sticky footer with safe-area padding or the top of the view.

Requirements and compatibility

Works with: Claude Code, Claude apps, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Kiro, OpenCode, Goose, Amp, Roo Code, JetBrains Junie, Factory Droid, Devin (ex-Windsurf), Mistral Vibe, OpenHands, Letta

“Works with” means the tool reads the open Agent Skills format; a skill written for one tool may use features others lack.

Security

No issues found by our static scan· No issues found

A static scan is not a guarantee. Skills are third-party content: review a skill before you let an agent use it.

Attribution and licence

Created by

Jakub Krehel

Publisher

Jakub Krehel (Community)

Source

jakubkrehel/skills · skills/better-layout · commit f41f027

Licence

MIT License (redistribution allowed)

LICENSE (added by AutoGineer from LICENSE)
ATTRIBUTION.md (written by AutoGineer)

Synced

2026-11-09

AutoGineer is not affiliated with or endorsed by Jakub Krehel or Jakub Krehel.

Download ZIP

The ZIP holds the skill’s files, its licence files and an ATTRIBUTION.md. Download better-layout.zip

From the author

AutoGineer summary

What it does

When to use it

Advantages

Usage examples

Install

Documentation by Jakub Krehel

Layout

Group with space, not lines

Keep controls distinct from content

Align to shared edges

Logical properties for anything that mirrors

Order by importance

One primary action per view

Hint at hidden content

Borderless controls need more clearance

Inset buttons from the edges

Content bleeds, controls float

Hold structure until it breaks

Plan for growth and clipping

Before you finish

Reporting

Files

spacing-and-adaptivity.md

Spacing and adaptivity

Borderless controls need more clearance

Inset buttons from the edges

Hint at hidden content

Content bleeds, controls float

Hold structure until it breaks

Plan for growth and clipping

Requirements and compatibility

Security

Attribution and licence

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