FileMaker Pro 13: The Missing Manual

Chapter 8. Layout Design

In Chapter 7, you learned all about creating and managing layouts. Now that you understand what they are and how to make them, it’s time to apply FileMaker’s range of design tools to make the layouts usable and maybe even beautiful. The advent of FileMaker 13 brings a major expansion and restructuring of layout design tools that leave no excuse for ugly databases.

Layout Themes

There’s not much point in using FileMaker to organize your information if you don’t make it look good. But developing color schemes and interface designs from scratch can be time-consuming and even frustrating. FileMaker has you covered with themes. Any time you create a new layout, the last step is selecting the theme. Figure 8-1 shows just one of the 51 choices available. When you select one and click Finish, FileMaker sets up the colors, fonts, field formatting, and everything else to match the theme. And as you add new layout elements, FileMaker stays true to the theme so you don’t have to worry about making everything match. This being FileMaker, though, you can of course go off-theme and modify the layout elements however you wish.

Having selected and lived with a theme for a while, you may come to the realization that you’re less of a Cool Gray guy or gal and more inclined toward the Electric. Not a problem. In Layout Mode, choose Layouts→Change Theme and that familiar dialog box from Figure 8-1 reappears. After you choose a new theme, you may be disappointed when some of your ...