Introducing Notion's new "Layouts" feature.
This is one of the new features announced at the "Make With Notion" event held in San Francisco last year, but many of you may not know exactly what it can do.
In this article, we'll give a thorough explanation of the Layouts feature, from how to use it to specific ideas for implementation.
🎬 Director: Rei
✍🏻 Writer: Minorumi
1. What is the Layouts feature?
The Layouts feature allows you to customize the appearance of your Notion database pages.
You can organize the arrangement of properties, display only the necessary information clearly, and group frequently used items.
The "Layout Builder," where you can change the layout, is broadly divided into four areas. Here's what you can do in each area:
- Header
- Property Groups
- Individual Properties
- Panels
🔗 Learn more about databases here!
https://kurashi-notion.com/ja/blogs/notion/database
2. What you can do with the Layouts feature
To open the Layout Builder, open any page in your database and click "•••" in the top right corner, then select "Customize page."
Header
The header is the title section of the page.
Clicking on the header section allows you to make the following settings from the right-hand panel:
- Pin properties to the header
- Show/hide backlinks
Clicking the pin icon on each property allows you to pin it to the header, where it will appear compactly in a horizontal row below the title.
Pinning properties is recommended when you want to display important page information, such as dates or categories, all together.
Also, by hiding "backlinks," the "● backlinks" that appear when you mention another page will be hidden.
Property Groups
In the property group below the header, you can set property display/hide options, grouping, and more, to organize how properties are displayed.
If there are properties you want to hide, click the property group and hide them from the settings on the right.
Also, from "Add a section" in the top right, you can create sections to display properties separately.
If you have many properties, classifying them by type can help organize them clearly.
Individual Properties
By clicking the "+" button below the property group, you can display properties independently.
You can choose from existing properties or create new ones from here.
Files & media are highly recommended for individual properties. While images appear quite small in regular properties, making them individual properties allows them to be displayed larger.
You can also choose from three display formats for images: horizontal, vertical, and square.
Additionally, text properties, when independent, will be easier to input.
Panels
Click "Add to panel" to hide properties that don't need to be constantly displayed on the page.
Properties added to the panel are not displayed when the page is opened; they appear when you click the "Show more details" button in the top right corner of the page.
It's recommended to put properties here that you use for filtering or sorting but don't typically use in everyday viewing.
Other settings
From "Page settings" in the top left, you can configure page-wide settings, such as hiding comments and property icons.
If you're using it personally and don't need comments, turning them off here can make the page simpler.
Also, setting the structure to "tabbed" allows you to switch between the page content and your favorite databases using tabs.
If you have other related databases, setting them up this way allows you to access them directly from the page.
You can set up multiple databases, so for example, on a meeting minutes page, it would be convenient to have a list of meeting minutes and databases for tasks and projects.
Apply Layout
Once the layout is finalized, click "Apply to all pages" in the top right corner, and it will automatically be reflected on all pages in that database.
3. Examples of Layouts feature usage
The Layouts feature is useful, but many of you might be wondering how exactly to use it effectively.
Here, we've taken a few templates from "Kurashi to Notion" and adapted them.
Meal Planning & Recipe Management Template
We set recipe images in "Files & Media" and displayed them large as individual properties.
Properties not often used when viewing recipes were moved to the panel.
Diary Template
We organized various properties into groups, arranging them in the header, property groups, and individual properties. Text input was also made easier with individual properties, resulting in a more readable diary.
Social Media Planner Template
Thumbnails were made large using "Files & Media." Properties related to analytics, which are not used during planning, were moved to the panel for a simpler view.
The panel makes the numbers appear larger, improving readability.
That concludes our introduction to the Layouts feature!
Be sure to use it with your frequently used databases to create even more user-friendly pages.
Here's "Todotion", the ultimate task management template achieved with Notion!
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