Layout (computing)

Web browser engines are sometimes called layout engines.

In computing, layout is the process of computing the position of objects in space subject to various constraints. This functionality can be part of a program or packaged as a reusable component or module.

Examples

Page layout is the computation of the position of the paragraphs, sentences, words and letters of a text. This is done by desktop publishing software, typesetting software and web browser engines. This include font layout and rendering engines, like Pango, that calculate the correct position of glyphs, which can be a challenge with complex scripts.

An another form of layout is found in layout managers. They are parts of widget toolkits and have the ability to automatically calculate a widget's position based on alignment constraints without the need for the programmer to specify absolute coordinates.

Electronic design automation tools also perform layout as part of the place and route steps.