Unpopular opinion: Figma auto layout is overhyped for most simple designs

I tried using auto layout on a basic landing page project last week and it actually slowed me down. Spent 3 hours fighting with nested frames and padding values when I could have just manual positioned everything in 45 minutes. Don't get me wrong, it's great for complex components like buttons or nav bars. But for throwaway marketing pages that won't get updates? Not worth the headache. Anyone else find auto layout overkill for quick one-off layouts?

2 comments

2 Comments

green.mason4d ago

3 hours with nested frames? I think I felt my soul leave my body just reading that. Auto layout is great and all until you realize you spent a whole afternoon lining up an image and some text that could have just been dragged into place like a normal person.

mark_fisher484d ago

Did you ever try using auto layout on a page with a hero section, some image cards, and a footer? I built a quick landing page for a friend's band last month and I spent maybe an hour just trying to get the header to shrink properly on mobile. It kept breaking because I had three layers deep of padding and spacing. Ended up just deleting all the auto layout and using absolute position for everything. Looked fine. Loaded fine. Nobody cared how I built it. Sometimes I think we forget that the tool is supposed to save time, not make us look clever.