Containers

A Container is a special shape whose job is to hold other shapes. Instead of representing a single box in your Diagram, it acts as a frame that groups a set of related shapes, gives them a shared title, and can apply a color theme to everything inside.

Containers work the same way on a standalone Diagram and on a Zoid slide.

What a container is for

• Grouping — visually bundle shapes that belong together (a subsystem, a phase, a swimlane, a region of a flowchart).
• Labeling — give the group a clear title.
• Theming — apply one consistent color scheme across all the shapes inside, including automatic shading by nesting depth.

Adding a container

On a Diagram or slide canvas, use the toolbar's Add container action. A container is drawn as a framed region; drag and resize it like any other shape.

Containers automatically sit behind your regular shapes, so the shapes you place inside stay visible on top of the container's background.

Putting shapes inside

To nest shapes, place or drag them so they sit within the container's bounds. Doczoid detects which shapes fall inside a container by their position, so a shape inside the container's frame becomes part of that group.

Containers can be nested — a container inside another container — which is where depth-based theming becomes useful.

Titles

Every container can carry a title. You control how it's displayed:

• Position — show the title above or below the container.
• Alignment — align the title left, center, or right.
• Size — set the title's font size.

Themes

A container can be given a theme, which colors the container and styles the shapes nested within it. Available themes:

default · blue · green · purple · orange · pink · slate

A theme defines colors for several nesting depths. Shapes nested one level deep get one shade, shapes two levels deep get another, and so on — so deeply nested structures stay readable without you styling each shape by hand.

Overriding the theme on a single shape

Sometimes you want one shape inside a themed container to stand out. A nested shape can override the container style and keep its own fill, stroke, and text colors instead of inheriting the theme.

Setting it up — quick recipe

1. Add a container to your canvas with Add container.
2. Resize it to enclose the area you want to group.
3. Drop the relevant shapes inside its bounds.
4. Open the container's style options and pick a theme.
5. Set the title, its position (above/below), alignment, and size.
6. Nest a second container inside if you need sub-grouping — depth shading kicks in automatically.
7. Need one shape to differ? Turn on override container style for just that shape.

Tips

• Use containers to turn a busy Diagram into a set of clearly labeled regions.
• Reach for nesting + depth themes when you're showing hierarchy (systems → services → components).
• Containers pair well with Zoid slides: a themed container makes a clean, self-contained section on a presentation slide.
• Capture a themed, titled container as a PortalSnip to reuse that whole labeled group elsewhere.