diff --git a/redo/osxaltest/box.swift b/redo/osxaltest/box.swift
index 5a6fd590..f39b511b 100644
--- a/redo/osxaltest/box.swift
+++ b/redo/osxaltest/box.swift
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ class Box : NSView, Control {
 
 	private var primaryDirPrefix: String
 	private var secondaryDirPrefix: String
+	private var primaryOrientation: NSLayoutConstraintOrientation
+	private var secondaryOrientation: NSLayoutConstraintOrientation
 
 	init(vertical: Bool, padded: Bool) {
 		self.controls = []
@@ -25,9 +27,13 @@ class Box : NSView, Control {
 
 		self.primaryDirPrefix = "H:"
 		self.secondaryDirPrefix = "V:"
+		self.primaryOrientation = NSLayoutConstraintOrientation.Horizontal
+		self.secondaryOrientation = NSLayoutConstraintOrientation.Vertical
 		if self.vertical {
 			self.primaryDirPrefix = "V:"
 			self.secondaryDirPrefix = "H:"
+			self.primaryOrientation = NSLayoutConstraintOrientation.Vertical
+			self.secondaryOrientation = NSLayoutConstraintOrientation.Horizontal
 		}
 
 		super.init(frame: NSZeroRect)
@@ -44,12 +50,13 @@ class Box : NSView, Control {
 		var view = control.View()
 		c = BoxControl(
 			c:				control,
-			stretchy:			stretchy
+			stretchy:			stretchy,
 			horzHuggingPri:	horzHuggingPri(view),
 			vertHuggingPri:	vertHuggingPri(view))
 		self.addSubview(view)
 		self.controls.append(c)
-		// TODO set secondary hugging priority to low
+		// make sure controls don't hug their secondary direction so they fill the width of the view
+		setHuggingPri(view, myNSLayoutPriorityDefaultLow, self.secondaryOrientation)
 		self.relayout()
 	}
 
diff --git a/redo/osxaltest/control.swift b/redo/osxaltest/control.swift
index a92fe300..e06499fc 100644
--- a/redo/osxaltest/control.swift
+++ b/redo/osxaltest/control.swift
@@ -5,33 +5,3 @@ protocol Control : class {
 	func View() -> NSView
 	func SetParent(p: Control)
 }
-
-// TODO move to layout.swift
-
-func mkconstraints(constraint: String, views: [String: NSView]) -> [AnyObject] {
-	return NSLayoutConstraint.constraintsWithVisualFormat(
-		constraint,
-		options: NSLayoutFormatOptions(0),
-		metrics: nil,
-		views: views)
-}
-
-func horzHuggingPri(view: NSView) -> NSLayoutPriority {
-	return view.contentHuggingPriorityForOrientation(NSLayoutConstraintOrientation.Horizontal)
-}
-
-func vertHuggingPri(view: NSView) -> NSLayoutPriority {
-	return view.contentHuggingPriorityForOrientation(NSLayoutConstraintOrientation.Vertical)
-}
-
-func setHuggingPri(view: NSView, priority: NSLayoutPriority, orientation: NSLayoutConstraintOrientation) {
-	view.setContentHuggingPriority(priority, forOrientation: orientation)
-}
-
-func setHorzHuggingPri(view: NSView, priority: NSLayoutPriority) {
-	setHuggingPri(view, priority, NSLayoutConstraintOrientation.Horizontal)
-}
-
-func setVertHuggingPri(view: NSView, priority: NSLayoutPriority) {
-	setHuggingPri(view, priority, NSLayoutConstraintOrientation.Vertical)
-}
diff --git a/redo/osxaltest/layout.swift b/redo/osxaltest/layout.swift
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0f9818a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/redo/osxaltest/layout.swift
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+// 8 august 2015
+import Cocoa
+
+func mkconstraints(constraint: String, views: [String: NSView]) -> [AnyObject] {
+	return NSLayoutConstraint.constraintsWithVisualFormat(
+		constraint,
+		options: NSLayoutFormatOptions(0),
+		metrics: nil,
+		views: views)
+}
+
+// the swift bridge isn't perfect; it won't recognize these properly
+// thanks to Eridius in freenode/#swift-lang
+let myNSLayoutPriorityRequired: NSLayoutPriority = 1000
+let myNSLayoutPriorityDefaultHigh: NSLayoutPriority = 750
+let myNSLayoutPriorityDragThatCanResizeWindow: NSLayoutPriority = 510
+let myNSLayoutPriorityWindowSizeStayPut: NSLayoutPriority = 500
+let myNSLayoutPriorityDragThatCannotResizeWindow: NSLayoutPriority = 490
+let myNSLayoutPriorityDefaultLow: NSLayoutPriority = 250
+let myNSLayoutPriorityFittingSizeCompression: NSLayoutPriority = 50
+
+func horzHuggingPri(view: NSView) -> NSLayoutPriority {
+	return view.contentHuggingPriorityForOrientation(NSLayoutConstraintOrientation.Horizontal)
+}
+
+func vertHuggingPri(view: NSView) -> NSLayoutPriority {
+	return view.contentHuggingPriorityForOrientation(NSLayoutConstraintOrientation.Vertical)
+}
+
+func setHuggingPri(view: NSView, priority: NSLayoutPriority, orientation: NSLayoutConstraintOrientation) {
+	view.setContentHuggingPriority(priority, forOrientation: orientation)
+}
+
+func setHorzHuggingPri(view: NSView, priority: NSLayoutPriority) {
+	setHuggingPri(view, priority, NSLayoutConstraintOrientation.Horizontal)
+}
+
+func setVertHuggingPri(view: NSView, priority: NSLayoutPriority) {
+	setHuggingPri(view, priority, NSLayoutConstraintOrientation.Vertical)
+}