FileMaker Pro 10: The Missing Manual

Chapter 5. Building Basic Layouts

The last chapter introduced a lot of layout concepts, but you really worked only on one layout. Most databases use many layouts, each designed for a different task. Your People database has a great detail layout, but what else could it use? For starters, a few design tweaks might make your list of people easier for you to work with onscreen. And how about a way to print your contact information? You might want to print mailing labels or envelopes, too. You probably have some ideas about what you’d like your database to do, and FileMaker itself has some ideas of its own to help you along.

In this chapter, you’ll learn about more of FileMaker’s powerful layout features. You’ll also learn how to optimize a layout for printing.

The Lowdown on Layout Types

When you created the List layout in the last chapter, you used FileMaker’s Layout Assistant to speed the process along, but FileMaker fans are split on whether the assistant is the best option. Some people love the quick start you get from FileMaker, but others prefer to build a layout by hand, starting with a clean slate. You’ll get to try your hand at the start-from-scratch approach later in this chapter.

But whatever your preference, the Layout Assistant is critical for some layout types—like labels and envelopes—where lining everything up yourself can burn a lot of hours (and paper). So before you start building a layout, you’ll get a brief introduction to each of the kinds of layouts FileMaker can ...