explayouts_ui: the Layouts admin screens #

This page is for administrators and site builders who manage page layouts. explayouts_ui adds the Layouts tab to the admin. It is the management side of Exponential Layouts:

• lists of layouts, shared layouts and components;
• the layout mappings that decide which layout a page gets;
• imports, a template editor and a layout preview.

Each list links into the visual editor served by explayouts_ui_api. The extension has no domain classes of its own, only thin view classes under classes/runnable/views/explayouts_ui/. Its module views are controllers over the explayouts_core services, so the screens and the editor always show the same data.

Imported 30 July 2026 (1.0.0); 1.3.8 followed on 2 October 2026.

Find your way #

Open Layouts in the top admin menu (/explayouts_ui/dashboard). The tab requires the explayouts/read policy. It was renamed from "Exponential Layouts UI" on 28 August 2026, before 1.1.0.

Other views: layout_create, layout_edit, block_edit, rule_edit and layout_preview (/explayouts_ui/layout_preview/<layout id>/<status>).

Two menus exist, and your admin design uses one of them:

• The sidebar drawn by design/admin/templates/parts/explayouts_ui/menu.tpl has five links: Layout mappings, Layouts, Shared layouts, Components and Import. Template editor and Setup are not in it; open them by URL (/explayouts_ui/template_editor, /explayouts_ui/setup).
• The [Leftmenu_explayouts_ui_dashboard] block of the shipped menu.ini lists Layout mappings, Layouts, Shared layouts (pointing at layout_list), Import, Template editor and Setup.

Open /explayouts_ui/dashboard to see which one you have.

Map a layout to a page #

The screen formerly called "rules" is Layout mappings since 1.1.0. A mapping links a layout to one or more targets and conditions, with a priority.

1. Open Layouts > Layout mappings.
2. Click New rule. An inline panel opens; a new mapping starts with a priority that actually resolves.
3. Choose the layout, add a target and, if needed, conditions.
4. Enable the mapping, then use View in CMS on a node target to open the node's system URL and check the result.

To jump straight to the mappings of one node, preload the list with the query parameters TargetType, TargetValue and RuleID (this is what the Map layout and Edit mapping links do), for example:

/explayouts_ui/rule_list?TargetType=node&TargetValue=2

Details:

• Targets: a node, a subtree, and other target types. The old content_node target type is shown as node.
• Conditions: class, siteaccess, query parameter, route parameter, time and others. Class and siteaccess are dropdowns, not free text. The legacy ibexa_* condition names are no longer offered; an existing mapping that uses one keeps working and is shown under its canonical name. The class condition is called class.
• Each mapping row has quick actions: enable, disable, unlink layout, copy, delete, a details panel (mapped layout, priority, enabled switch, target and condition tables), and a per-mapping cache clear.

Mapping changes decide which layout renders. After a bulk change, the resolver cache under var/site/cache/explayouts/resolver/ may need clearing; the per-mapping cache clear does this for one mapping.

Preview a layout #

layout_preview renders a layout against a representative content node, resolved from the mapping's own target, so content-driven blocks show real content instead of nothing.

• The preview sets the content_info view mode to layout_preview, so the public page layout can omit header and footer when the layout itself contains header and footer zones.
• A dedicated full-view template breaks the circular reference the module result would otherwise produce.
• Load more works in the preview (1.3.1).

Settings #

Policies (from module.php):

• read: layout_list, shared_layouts_list, rule_list, components, dashboard, layout_preview;
• edit: layout_create, layout_edit, rule_edit, block_edit, setup, transfer_import;
• template_editor lists both.

Page size of the lists #

Layout, shared layout, component and mapping lists are paged (1.2.0), 25 per page by default. The extension ships these defaults itself; override them in admininterface.ini:

[PaginationSettings]
ItemsPerPage[explayouts_ui/layout_list]=25
ItemsPerPage[explayouts_ui/shared_layouts_list]=25
ItemsPerPage[explayouts_ui/components]=25
ItemsPerPage[explayouts_ui/rule_list]=25

See Admin list paging and Pagination settings.

Phones and narrow screens #

The layout list header wraps below 900 px, puts the sort controls on a line of their own, and fills the width below 480 px, so New layout is never pushed off a phone screen (1.2.3). The layout grid uses the smaller of 260 px and the available width.

Scripts, styles and fonts #

Since 1.3.7 (1 October 2026) the pages run on the admin's own jQuery 4 from ezjscore, and their files carry Exponential names:

layouts-admin.js is no longer loaded. 1.3.7 also ships the Roboto fonts (no more 404s) and fixes the rule list's action condition; 1.3.8 stops the stylesheet's page-wide rules from resetting node views. Check the files:

ls extension/explayouts_ui/design/admin/stylesheets extension/explayouts_ui/design/admin/stylesheets/netgen

Languages #

Every visible text is a translation string (English and German ship). The tab, its tooltip, the navigation part name and the left menu names are translated in the contexts design/admin/pagelayout, kernel/navigationpart and design/admin/parts/<menu>/menu.

MongoDB #

The component usage and shared layout listings read on MongoDB too (1.2.2). The join and the aggregate the driver cannot translate were replaced by reads matched in PHP, so screens that used to show nothing now show the 49 components and the real reference counts.

Related pages #

• explayouts_ui_api: the editor
• Exponential Layouts (bc note)
• Specification
• Template editor: create, order and edit overrides
• Chronicle and release notes
• Change ledger
• Behaviour changes of the extensions
• Months: 2026-07, 2026-08, 2026-09 (all extensions)