Basic layout operations

The following examples show how to perform the most common UI layout tasks.

Styling and aligning text

Var container = Container( // grey box
  child: Text(
    "Lorem ipsum",
    style: TextStyle(
      fontSize: 24,
      fontWeight: FontWeight.w900,
      fontFamily: "Georgia",
    ),
  ),
  width: 320,
  height: 240,
  color: Colors.grey[300],
);

<div class="greybox">
    Lorem ipsum
</div>

.greybox {
      background-color: #e0e0e0; /* grey 300 */
      width: 320px;
      height: 240px;
      font: 900 24px Georgia;
    }

Font style, size, and other text attributes that CSS handles with the font and color properties are individual properties of a TextStyle child of a Text widget.

Setting background color

var container = Container( // grey box
  child: Text(
    "Lorem ipsum",
    style: bold24Roboto,
  ),
  width: 320,
  height: 240,
  decoration: BoxDecoration(
    color: Colors.grey[300],
  ),
);

<div class="greybox">
  Lorem ipsum
</div>

.greybox {
      background-color: #e0e0e0;  /* grey 300 */
      width: 320px;
      height: 240px;
      font: 900 24px Roboto;
    }

In Flutter, you set the background color using a Container’s decoration property.

Centering components

var container = Container( // grey box
  child:  Center(
    child:  Text(
      "Lorem ipsum",
      style: bold24Roboto,
    ),
  ),
  width: 320,
  height: 240,
  color: Colors.grey[300],
);

<div class="greybox">
  Lorem ipsum
</div>

.greybox {
  background-color: #e0e0e0; /* grey 300 */
  width: 320px;
  height: 240px;
  font: 900 24px Roboto;
  display: flex;
  align-items: center;
  justify-content: center; 
}

A Center widget centers its child both horizontally and vertically.

Setting container width

Var container = Container( // grey box
  child: Center(
    child: Container( // red box
      child: Text(
        "Lorem ipsum",
        style: bold24Roboto,
      ),
      decoration: BoxDecoration(
        color: Colors.red[400],
      ),
      padding: EdgeInsets.all(16),
      width: 240, //max-width is 240
    ),
  ),
  width: 320, 
  height: 240,
  color: Colors.grey[300],
);

<div class="greybox">
  <div class="redbox">
    Lorem ipsum
  </div>
</div>

.greybox {
  background-color: #e0e0e0; /* grey 300 */
  width: 320px; 
  height: 240px;
  font: 900 24px Roboto;
  display: flex;
  align-items: center;
  justify-content: center;
}
.redbox {
  background-color: #ef5350; /* red 400 */
  padding: 16px;
  color: #ffffff;
  width: 100%;
  max-width: 240px; 
}

To specify the width of a Container widget, use its width property.

To mimic that effect in Flutter, use the constraints property of the Container. Create a new BoxConstraints widget with a minWidth or maxWidth.

Scaling components

Var container = Container( // gray box
  child: Center(
    child:  Transform(
      child:  Container( // red box
        child: Text(
          "Lorem ipsum",
          style: bold24Roboto,
          textAlign: TextAlign.center,
        ),
        decoration: BoxDecoration(
          color: Colors.red[400],
        ),
        padding: EdgeInsets.all(16),
      ),
      alignment: Alignment.center,
      transform: Matrix4.identity()
        ..scale(1.5),
     ), 
  width: 320,
  height: 240,
  color: Colors.grey[300],
);

<div class="greybox">
  <div class="redbox">
    Lorem ipsum
  </div>
</div>

.greybox {
  background-color: #e0e0e0; /* grey 300 */
  width: 320px;
  height: 240px;
  font: 900 24px Roboto;
  display: flex;
  align-items: center;
  justify-content: center;
}
.redbox {
  background-color: #ef5350; /* red 400 */
  padding: 16px;
  color: #ffffff;
  transform: scale(1.5); 
}

To scale a widget up or down, nest it in a Transform widget.
For a simple scaling operation along the x-axis, create a new Matrix4 identity object and use its scale() method to specify the scaling factor.
When you scale a parent widget, its child widgets are scaled accordingly.

Related concepts

Flutter for web developers

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Basic layout operations

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