Building Dynamic UIs in Flutter: An In-Depth Guide to Layouts and Widgets

Ahmed El Otmani
4 min readFeb 6, 2023

--

A really well open-source platform for creating mobile applications, Flutter has swept the development world. Dart, Flutter’s user-friendly yet intuitive programming language, has made it simpler than ever to develop attractive and effective applications.

The capability of Flutter to design and manage widgets and layouts is one of its primary strengths. In this post, we’ll look at the fundamentals of building layouts and widgets in Flutter and how to leverage them to make engaging user interfaces.

It’s critical to comprehend what layouts and widgets are and how they function in Flutter before we get into the specifics of building them. A widget is a specific visual element that is a part of the layout, whereas a layout is the organization of widgets on a screen. Containers, rows, and columns are just a few of the widgets that can be used to create layouts.

Creating Basic Layouts in Flutter

The Container widget is the primary widget used in Flutter to build layouts. A rectangular space can be made using the Container widget and then filled with other widgets. A Border, Padding, and Margin can all be applied to a Container widget in addition to its width, height, and color.

Here’s an example of a Container widget in Flutter:

Container(
width: 200.0,
height: 200.0,
color: Colors.blue,
child: Text('Hello World'),
)

In this example, we are making a Container widget with the following specifications: 200 pixel width, 200 pixel height, and the color blue. What widgets should be enclosed within the Container widget is specified using the child attribute. In this instance, the text “Hello World” is displayed using a Text widget.

Rows and Columns

Flutter has Row and Column widgets for building layouts in addition to Container widgets. While column widgets are used to arrange widgets vertically, row widgets are used to arrange them horizontally.

Here’s an example of a Row widget in Flutter:

Row(
children: [
Container(
width: 100.0,
height: 100.0,
color: Colors.red,
),
Container(
width: 100.0,
height: 100.0,
color: Colors.green,
),
],
)

Here we’re making a Row widget with two Container widgets within. The first Container widget will be red, and the second will be green, and they will be presented side by side.

Example of a Column widget in Flutter:

Column(
children: [
Container(
width: 100.0,
height: 100.0,
color: Colors.red,
),
Container(
width: 100.0,
height: 100.0,
color: Colors.green,
),
],
)

Similar to the previous example, we’re making a Column widget with two Container widgets within. The first Container widget will be red, and the second will be green, and they will be presented one on top of the other.

In addition to layouts, Flutter also provides a range of basic widgets for creating individual visual elements. Some of the most commonly used basic widgets include Text, Image, and Button.

Text is shown in Flutter apps using the Text widget. which is a very basic widget that may have its attributes (font, color, and size) changed.

Here’s an example of a Text widget in Flutter:

Text(
'Hello World',
style: TextStyle(
fontSize: 32.0,
color: Colors.red,
),
)

In this illustration, we’re making a Text widget that shows the phrase “Hello World” in red with a 32-point font size.

Image Widgets

The Image widget is used to display images in Flutter applications. The Image widget can be used to display images from the internet, from local files, or from assets.

Example:

Image.network(
'https://example.com/image.png',
width: 100.0,
height: 100.0,
)

In this piece of code, we’re making an Image widget that shows a web-sourced image. The width and height parameters are used to specify the image’s size, while the Image.network function is used to display images from a URL.

Button Widgets

In Flutter apps, buttons are created using the Button widget. Customization options for the Button widget include text, color, and lots of other things.

An example of a Button widget in Flutter:

RaisedButton(
onPressed: () {
print('Button Pressed');
},
child: Text('Click Me'),
)

In this example, we are creating a RaisedButton widget that displays the text ‘Click Me’. The onPressed property is used to specify what should happen when the button is pressed. In this case, we are using a print statement to display a message in the console.

Finally, Flutter offers a variety of tools and widgets for building stunning and useful user interfaces. The fundamentals of Flutter’s layouts and widgets can help developers build dynamic, aesthetically pleasing applications that offer a fantastic user experience.

Thank you for reading untill the end, Check out my other posts where I talk about Flutter-related topics in plain details.

--

--

Ahmed El Otmani
Ahmed El Otmani

Written by Ahmed El Otmani

I am a Flutter developer creating intuitive mobile apps. I am passionate about learning and sharing knowledge on software development.

No responses yet