Vaadin Layouts: HorizontalLayout & VerticalLayout

Use the Vaadin MCP tools (search_vaadin_docs, get_component_java_api, get_component_styling) to look up the latest documentation whenever uncertain about a specific API detail. Always set vaadin_version to "25" and ui_language to "java".

When NOT to Use HorizontalLayout / VerticalLayout

Before reaching for these layouts, consider whether a different component is a better fit:

Use AppLayout instead when building the application shell — the top-level structure with a navigation drawer, header bar, and main content area. AppLayout handles responsive drawer collapsing, hamburger menus on mobile, and navbar placement automatically. Building this with nested HorizontalLayout/VerticalLayout is a common anti-pattern that produces worse results with more code.

Use Dashboard instead when building a grid of cards or widgets. Dashboard provides automatic responsive reflow, optional user-configurable drag-and-drop rearrangement, and proper grid-based sizing. Nesting HorizontalLayouts with wrapping to simulate a card grid is fragile and doesn't give you the two-dimensional control that a grid-based layout provides.

Use CSS Grid (via custom CSS, or Lumo utility classes if using the Lumo theme) instead when you need a true two-dimensional grid layout — rows AND columns. HorizontalLayout and VerticalLayout are one-dimensional (flexbox). If you find yourself nesting multiple HorizontalLayouts inside a VerticalLayout to create a grid, CSS Grid is the right tool.

Use FormLayout instead when arranging form fields. FormLayout handles responsive column counts, label positioning, and field sizing automatically.

HorizontalLayout and VerticalLayout are the right choice for arranging components in a single row or column — toolbars, button groups, card contents, view sections, and similar one-dimensional arrangements.

FlexLayout: When You Need More Control

FlexLayout provides the same flexbox capabilities as HorizontalLayout/VerticalLayout but with more control: you can change direction at runtime, reverse item order, and configure all flex properties explicitly. However, the Vaadin documentation recommends using HorizontalLayout and VerticalLayout over FlexLayout for most cases. They offer better default styling (gaps, padding) and a more intuitive API. FlexLayout exists primarily for backward compatibility and edge cases where you need to toggle between horizontal and vertical direction dynamically.

Critical Default Behaviors

Understand these defaults before writing any layout code — they cause the most confusion.

VerticalLayout defaults:

• Width: 100% (fills parent)
• Height: undefined (hugs content)
• Spacing: ON
• Padding: ON

HorizontalLayout defaults:

• Width: undefined (hugs content)
• Height: undefined (hugs content)
• Spacing: ON
• Padding: OFF

These asymmetric defaults are the #1 source of layout surprises. When nesting a VerticalLayout inside a HorizontalLayout, the VerticalLayout will try to take 100% of the parent width. Explicitly set sizes when composing layouts.

Alignment

Both layouts are CSS flexbox containers. The axis terminology maps directly:

VerticalLayout (main axis = vertical):

• setJustifyContentMode() — controls vertical distribution (START, CENTER, END, BETWEEN, AROUND, EVENLY)
• setAlignItems() — controls horizontal alignment (START, CENTER, END, STRETCH)

HorizontalLayout (main axis = horizontal):

• setJustifyContentMode() — controls horizontal distribution
• setAlignItems() — controls vertical alignment (STRETCH is the default here, unlike VerticalLayout)

Override alignment on individual children with layout.setAlignSelf(Alignment.X, child).

HorizontalLayout also offers addToStart(), addToMiddle(), addToEnd() for grouped positioning. These cannot be combined with setJustifyContentMode().

Spacing, Padding, Margin

Spacing — gap between children. Both layouts have it ON by default. Control it with setSpacing(boolean). Fine-tune using theme variants:

layout.setSpacing(false);
layout.getThemeList().add("spacing-xs"); // xs, s, (default), l, xl

Or set a custom pixel value:

layout.setSpacing(12, Unit.PIXELS);

Padding — space between layout border and content. VerticalLayout has it ON by default; HorizontalLayout has it OFF. Use setPadding(boolean).

Margin — space outside the layout border. OFF by default on both. Use setMargin(boolean).

Expanding Items with Flex

Make a component fill remaining space:

layout.setFlexGrow(1, expandingComponent);

Multiple expand ratios work proportionally: setFlexGrow(2, a) and setFlexGrow(1, b) gives a twice the space of b.

Sizing with setWidthFull / setHeightFull in Vaadin 25

In Vaadin 25, setWidthFull(), setHeightFull(), and setSizeFull() behave differently than in older versions. They now set flex: 1 1 100% instead of a literal CSS width: 100%. This means the component will take available space while still respecting sibling sizes — it grows to fill remaining space and shrinks if needed. This is almost always the intended behavior.

As a result, a fixed-size component sitting next to a setWidthFull() sibling will generally NOT shrink unexpectedly in Vaadin 25. The flex-based sizing handles the space distribution correctly.

You can still use setFlexGrow(1, component) explicitly if you prefer, and setFlexShrink(0, fixedComponent) is still available if you need to guarantee a component never shrinks below its specified size.

IMPORTANT — legacy behavior (does NOT apply in Vaadin 25): In Vaadin 24 and earlier, setWidthFull() set a literal width: 100%, which meant "100% of the parent layout" rather than "the remaining space." This caused a well-known bug where fixed-size siblings would shrink because the full-size component demanded the entire parent width and the default flex-shrink allowed everything to compress. If you encounter old advice about "the shrinking trap" recommending you always use setFlexGrow instead of setWidthFull, that advice was correct for Vaadin 24 but is no longer necessary in Vaadin 25. Do not give this outdated advice to users on Vaadin 25.

The Overflow Trap

Components inside layouts can overflow when the content exceeds the layout's constrained size. This commonly causes unwanted scrollbars.

Fix: set minimum size to 0 on the overflowing component:

overflowingComponent.setMinHeight("0");
// or
overflowingComponent.setMinWidth("0");

In Vaadin 25, setSizeFull() also sets the minimum size of nested layouts to 0 automatically, which helps prevent this issue. But for non-layout components or explicit sizing, you may still need to set it manually.

Wrapping

HorizontalLayout supports wrapping to prevent overflow:

layout.setWrap(true);

When combining wrapping with addToStart/addToMiddle/addToEnd, group items into sub-layouts for proper wrap behavior.

Best Practices

1. Explicitly disable padding/spacing when not needed — nested layouts accumulate unwanted space fast. Use setPadding(false) and setSpacing(false) on inner layouts.
2. Use the right layout component — AppLayout for app shells, Dashboard for card grids, FormLayout for forms. Don't build everything with HorizontalLayout/VerticalLayout.
3. Don't over-nest — a single-child HorizontalLayout just for alignment is unnecessary. Use setAlignSelf() on the parent instead.
4. Use Lumo utility classes for spacing fine-tuning (Lumo theme only) — LumoUtility.Gap, LumoUtility.Padding provide more granular control via addClassNames(). For Aura, use custom CSS or --vaadin-*-layout-gap properties.
5. Use custom CSS properties for global adjustments — --vaadin-horizontal-layout-gap, --vaadin-vertical-layout-gap, --vaadin-*-layout-padding, --vaadin-*-layout-margin.

Detailed Reference

For a quick-reference cheat sheet of defaults, alignment values, and troubleshooting patterns, see references/layout-cheatsheet.md.