diff --git a/adjacent.m b/adjacent.m
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5bf80468
--- /dev/null
+++ b/adjacent.m
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+	// now find all horizontally adjacent views and string them together
+	for (y = 0; y < ycount; y++)
+		for (x = 0; x < xcount - 1; x++) {
+			if (gg[y][x] == -1)
+				continue;
+			if (gg[y][x + 1] == -1)
+				continue;
+			if (gg[y][x] == gg[y][x + 1])		// spanning
+				continue;
+			gc = (gridChild *) [self->children objectAtIndex:gg[y][x]];
+			firstView = [gc view];
+			gc = (gridChild *) [self->children objectAtIndex:gg[y][x + 1]];
+			c = mkConstraint(firstView, NSLayoutAttributeTrailing,
+				NSLayoutRelationEqual,
+				[gc view], NSLayoutAttributeLeading,
+				1, -padding,
+				@"uiGrid inside trailing attribute");
+			[self addConstraint:c];
+			[self->inBetweens addObject:c];
+		}
+	// and same for vertically adjacent
+	for (x = 0; x < xcount; x++)
+		for (y = 0; y < ycount - 1; y++) {
+			if (gg[y][x] == -1)
+				continue;
+			if (gg[y + 1][x] == -1)
+				continue;
+			if (gg[y][x] == gg[y + 1][x])		// spanning
+				continue;
+			gc = (gridChild *) [self->children objectAtIndex:gg[y][x]];
+			firstView = [gc view];
+			gc = (gridChild *) [self->children objectAtIndex:gg[y + 1][x]];
+			c = mkConstraint(firstView, NSLayoutAttributeBottom,
+				NSLayoutRelationEqual,
+				[gc view], NSLayoutAttributeTop,
+				1, -padding,
+				@"uiGrid inside bottom attribute");
+			[self addConstraint:c];
+			[self->inBetweens addObject:c];
+		}
diff --git a/reduce.m b/reduce.m
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e3c9b676
--- /dev/null
+++ b/reduce.m
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+	// if a row or column only contains emptys and spanning cells of a opposite-direction spannings, remove it by duplicating the previous row or column
+	BOOL onlyEmptyAndSpanning;
+	for (y = 0; y < ycount; y++) {
+		onlyEmptyAndSpanning = YES;
+		for (x = 0; x < xcount; x++)
+			if (gg[y][x] != -1) {
+				gc = (gridChild *) [self->children objectAtIndex:gg[y][x]];
+				if (gc.yspan == 1 || gc.top - ymin == y) {
+					onlyEmptyAndSpanning = NO;
+					break;
+				}
+			}
+		if (onlyEmptyAndSpanning)
+			for (x = 0; x < xcount; x++)
+				gg[y][x] = gg[y - 1][x];
+	}
+	for (x = 0; x < xcount; x++) {
+		onlyEmptyAndSpanning = YES;
+		for (y = 0; y < ycount; y++)
+			if (gg[y][x] != -1) {
+				gc = (gridChild *) [self->children objectAtIndex:gg[y][x]];
+				if (gc.xspan == 1 || gc.left - xmin == x) {
+					onlyEmptyAndSpanning = NO;
+					break;
+				}
+			}
+		if (onlyEmptyAndSpanning)
+			for (y = 0; y < ycount; y++)
+				gg[y][x] = gg[y][x - 1];
+	}