Launched: Align content side-by-side with page layout

Did somebody say dashboards?

You asked, we’ve been listening. And building. This one was a long time coming, but we wanted to get it right.

Whether you’re writing project briefs or making fully-featured applications, page layouts gives you exponentially more ways organize Coda’s building blocks in your new or existing docs.

:bulb: Here are some tips to help you get started:

1. Align content side-by-side.

Click on the vertical ”…” to drag and drop text, images, tables, and other Coda’s building blocks into columns on a page.

PRD-21017-CL-Image_Drag_Drop-640x360

2. Optimize for content with customizable sizing in a column.

One size does not fit all. Page layouts give you the flexibility to customize column widths with the resize lever.

PRD-21017-CL-Chart_Resize-640x360

3. Easily add or move columns on a page.

Add columns on the fly by typing /column anywhere on a page. Select and arrange columns by clicking the horizontal “…” selector at the top of each column.

PRD-21017-CL-Layout_Selector-640x360

There are so many ways to up-level your docs with page layouts — so we built a few docs to inspire you:

If you feel like your Coda docs can use a makeover, try creating a customizable page layout today!

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Very exciting! Although I’m not actually able to get this to work. Do you need to turn something on?

One of the docs you linked to says this, but it’s not working for me either…

Am I missing something?

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This is a super feature! Something we’ve been waiting so much!

@Kelly_Claus !
I believed they forgot to tell us that it works only for new documents, not for existing ones.
Example of one existing doc of mine:

A new doc:

Noooooo @hieutran say it isn’t so!!! What am I supposed to do with my big massive doc I manage e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g through? Will I really not be able to implement the big feature I’ve been waiting patiently/desperately for in the one doc I actually use???

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Hi @Kelly_Claus, yes you will! We launched this feature for all Coda docs (new and existing). Due to the size of some existing docs, they are taking longer to update than others. You can expect all your existing docs to be updated by the end of the day tomorrow, if not end of day today. Thank you for your patience!

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Hi @Daniel_Velho,

Thanks for your input! We launched this feature for all Coda docs (new and existing). Due to the size of some existing docs, they are taking longer to update than others. You can expect all your existing docs to be updated by the end of the day tomorrow, if not end of day today. Thank you for your patience!

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Oh whew! Was about to start throwing things lol.

Thanks! Ecstatic about this!!!

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@Kelly_Claus don’t worry, the only thing you’ll need to throw is confetti when your docs look fierce with page layout! Again, thank you for being patient while we migrate your docs.

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Hi,

I was wishing I could do this just YESTERDAY! So I went back to the doc I could have used it on and I am unable to drag or type /column in a free account I created for our rock club. I am able to do it in my paid account. Yay!

Please advise when this will be available to my club’s account or if this is a paid feature.

Thanks. I am so excited!

Cari Adamek
Online Strategic Partner

Hi @Cari_Adamek, we launched this feature for all Coda users and it is not a paid feature. We are seeing longer migration times for certain customer docs due to size. You can expect all your existing docs to be updated in the next coming days. It sounds like it is not working in your free account yet because the doc is existing. If you want to start using page layout today, you can spin up a customizable layout in a new doc. Thank you for your patience!

1 Like

Hello,

Really love this feature, thanks for that!
One thing i noticed could be handy esp. now with the column design:
Ability to max height tables and use pagination or if no pagination specify an amount of rows to display and expand the rest of the table (like current behavior) on click at the bottom (ie. show rest of table)

Thanks!
Ingo

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Hi @Ingo_Bartel , thank you for your feedback! This is something we have heard from a few makers. It is definitely something we will consider for the next iteration of page layout.

Best,

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Absolutely love this!! Thanks @hieutran and team!

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@Kelly_Claus I heard your doc was upgraded! Looking forward to hearing what you think. Thanks again for your patience!

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Nathan,

Such good news — thank you.

I copied and pasted the rock club form into my paid account and replaced tables with columns there. It worked great! (Still not possible in free account.) I was able to cheat in this case because no one else needs to see this form at present. I am printing them out for people to fill out by hand. (Yes, old school!) I ran into a glitch printing that I thought you might want to see.

Before columns, printing was honoring margin settings in Chrome and Brave. After columns, they are not. It appears that Coda is forcing a 1-1/2" right margin (approx.) no matter what I set. Here’s my Loom video for you: Loom | Free Screen & Video Recording Software

After making my video, I tested to see if it only happens in a doc with columns or all docs. After removing the columns and trying to print the same doc, it still forces a huge right margin. I am guessing that something else changed besides you adding the column capability to cause this but leave it to you to figure out.

Also, I didn’t mention in my video but the checkboxes are way lighter in PDFs and in print than they are inside of Coda. Being that this form is being filled out by hand, they are barely visible. It would be nice if they rendered darker in PDF/print format. I attached a PDF of my form so you could see what I mean. It also shows the huge right margin (I specified 1/2") and the extra blank page I can’t get rid of.

Not a deal breaker at all. Just thought you’d want to know. Printing 50 of these now for our club meeting tonight. Love Coda!

Cari Adamek
Online Strategic Partner

(Attachment Volunteer Form.pdf is missing)

Hello @hieutran ,
Of course I am really excited about all these new features.

As reported somewhere down in this thread by @Cari_Adamek , I am experiencing export to .pdf problems. Copy that used to fit easily on a singe (A4) size page is now creating a two page .pdf (2nd page being completely blank).
For the .pdf documents I have to produce, in particular when including sub pages, this creates a serious problem, because there are blank pages all over the exported .pdf.

I tried different things but can’t correct the situation. I do get the feeling that large top and bottom margins are introduced (exported) that create this problem (and I also see left and right margin issues). The only way to fix it at this point in time is to seriously decrease my page length (which is not really an option).

Would you please (have the developers) take an extra look at this?

Thank you,
Greetings, Joost

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Hi,

I noticed that using a wide page layout columns behave differently to tables. It would be great if i can use the complete width available also with columns (outline is toggle off, content alignment is wide)

Thanks,
Ingo

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@Ingo_Bartel, I would be interested to know what you mean exactly? I can’t see any different behavior so far.

@hieutran - I’d love to be able to adjust the page width for different docs for different stakeholders. Are there any plans to allow the max width of the columns block to be adjusted?

Hi Blake,

Thank you for your feedback. The team is currently working on enabling full-width on column groups as well as page width in the next quarter. Please stay tune :slight_smile:

4 Likes