Comment by markbao
7 days ago
I don’t see how it could be categorically wrong. To me it’s categorically right: Auto Layout specifically is intended to restrict the possible layout options.
You trade off adding limitations for how much you can do in a design and move things around freely, and in return you gain more convenience and less work needed to organize designs. You can change designs around quickly… as long as they’re within the rather confined limitations of Auto Layout.
I think the fundamental disagreement is that one person sees creative empowerment as freedom from doing busywork, whereas another (including the author) sees it as freedom to experiment with a design without limits. Neither is inherently wrong, but the two are inherently in conflict.
> To me it’s categorically right: Auto Layout specifically is intended to restrict the possible layout options.
Except that you do not need to use Auto Layout if you don't want to mimic the flow of objects inside a flexbox container. You can just use a regular frame, and position things freely within it. Or, you can use an Auto Layout, but then absolutely position arbitrary elements inside that Auto Layout frame if you want. Auto Layout does not restrict a designer's layout options, it only adds to them.