--- title: 'App patterns explained: content views' description: 'When designing an app, an important thing to consider in your app is how to display content. In our design guidelines, we have provided three standard views: Grid, List and Full screen which we think will cover most situations. Grid view Content divided into rows and columns is referred to as a grid view. The […]' url: https://canonical.com/blog/app-patterns-explained-content-views?format=md --- 1. [Blog](https://canonical.com/blog) 2. Article --- [Canonical](https://canonical.com/blog/author/canonical "More about Canonical") 22 February 2013 # App patterns explained: content views [app design](https://canonical.com/blog/tag/app-design) [app patterns explained](https://canonical.com/blog/tag/app-patterns-explained) [Design](https://canonical.com/blog/tag/design) --- Share the article When designing an app, an important thing to consider in your app is how to display content. In our design guidelines, we have provided three standard views: [Grid](http://design.ubuntu.com/apps/global-patterns/content-views#grid-view), [List](http://design.ubuntu.com/apps/global-patterns/content-views#list-view) and [Full screen](http://design.ubuntu.com/apps/global-patterns/content-views#full-screen-view) which we think will cover most situations. ## Grid view Content divided into rows and columns is referred to as a grid view. * The grid view extends vertically. ## List view Content divided into rows is referred to as a list view and can attain a variety of appearances and behaviours. * The list view extends vertically. * List items can be grouped and styled differently. Thinking of using this one? Look at the “[List items](http://design.ubuntu.com/apps/building-blocks/list-items)” building block. ## Full screen view When a single piece of content is the main focus of the user’s attention, you should consider displaying the content in full screen view using the [full screen layout](http://design.ubuntu.com/apps/global-patterns/layout#full-screen "Full screen layout"). ### This view looks like it needs some navigation To navigate back to the previous view, use the [page stack](http://design.ubuntu.com/apps/building-blocks/page-stack) navigation structure. ## And what about scrolling? Scrollbars are hidden until you actually need them, so they appear on touch. The scrollbar is applied automatically whenever there is content out of view. ## Ask us about content views! Join our [mailing list](https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-phone "Ubuntu phone mailing list"). We’d love to hear from you! [Get in touch Interested in running Ubuntu in your organization?](https://ubuntu.com/about/contact-us/form) ## Sign up for our newsletter Get the latest Canonical news and updates in your inbox. Work email: \*I agree to receive information about Canonical's products and services. By submitting this form, I confirm that I have read and agree to [Canonical's Privacy Policy](https://canonical.com/legal/dataprivacy). Sign up ## Share on --- ## Related posts [### Challenges designers face in open source (and how to fix them)](https://canonical.com/blog/challenges-designers-face-in-open-source-and-how-to-fix-them) Open source powers up to 90% of modern software, yet many projects lack usability. Canonical’s Design team surveyed 115 cross-functional professionals to uncover the 4 core... [Kola Ojoodide](https://canonical.com/blog/author/kola-ojoodide) 26 June 2026 [### Why web engineering is great](https://canonical.com/blog/why-web-engineering-is-great) Hi, I’m Johann! I’m an engineering manager in Canonical’s web team. For the larger part of my 15 years of work experience as engineer, I’ve been working in web development.... [Johann Wolf](https://canonical.com/blog/author/johannwolf) 27 April 2026 [### Canonical’s recipe for High Performance Computing](https://canonical.com/blog/canonicals-recipe-for-high-performance-computing) In essence, High Performance Computing (HPC) is quite simple. Speed and scale. In practice, the concept is quite complex and hard to achieve. It is not dissimilar to what... [Igor Ljubuncic](https://canonical.com/blog/author/igorljubuncic) 24 January 2024 [### Web team – hack week 2023](https://canonical.com/blog/web-team-hack-week-2023) Today, around 96% of software projects utilize open source in some way. The web team here at Canonical is passionate about Open source. We lead with an open-by-default approach... [Anthony Dillon](https://canonical.com/blog/author/ya-bo-ng) 25 October 2023