Custom layout in UICollectionViewFlowLayout

Question

I'd like to have a layout in the collection view with custom sizes for each cell. Because of this, I would like cells to fit nicely together, as you can see here:

(With the first cell being the top one, then the bottom left being number 2 and bottom right being number 3). The direction of scrolling is horizontal (i.e. left to right).

However, when I implement the custom sizes for each cell, the cells don't fill in white space and instead I end up with a layout similar to this:

To achieve this result, would I need to subclass UICollectionViewFlowLayout or is there a way of organising the cells to take up as much free space as possible?

Answer 1

You need to implement your own layout, by subclassing UICollectionViewLayout. It's not that complicated. There are tons of examples online.

Here is one using the original Apple example: http://markpospesel.wordpress.com/2012/10/25/fixing-circlelayout/

Another example that looks like what you want to do: https://github.com/chiahsien/CHTCollectionViewWaterfallLayout