Seating Plan Creator

How to Use This Seating Plan Creator

Step 1: Add Your Students

You have three options for adding students:

• Type or paste names directly: In the text box, enter each student on a new line using the format LastName, FirstName (e.g., "Smith, John"). Optionally add up to 3 short notes after the name: LastName, FirstName, Note1, Note2, Note3 (max 20 characters total across notes). These appear as small labels on each seat.
• Upload a CSV file: Click "Choose File" next to "Or upload CSV" to select a .csv or .txt file from your computer. The file should have one student per line in LastName, FirstName format (with optional notes columns).
• Upload student photos: Click "Upload Class Images" to select multiple student photos at once. A window will appear showing each image with a text field below it (pre-filled with the filename). Edit each name to match the LastName, FirstName format, then click "Add Students". The photos will appear in the seating plan. If you need to cut up a PDF or PNG of your class into photos of individual students, please check out slice & dice.
• Upload a SitYoAssDown datafile: If you previously exported your seating plan data, click "Upload SitYoAssDown Datafile" to load a .json datafile. This will restore your entire seating plan including student positions, blackouts, and any uploaded photos. The plan will render automatically without needing to click "Generate Seating Plan".

Step 2: Configure Your Grid

• Class name: Enter your class name (e.g., "Math 101") at the top. This will appear as a header on your seating plan.
• Rows and Columns: Set how many rows and columns of desks you have. If you add more students than will fit, extra rows are added automatically.
• Sort by: Choose how to sort students - by first name, last name (A-Z or Z-A), or randomly.
• Allocate: Choose whether to fill seats from left to right (A→Z) or right to left (Z→A).

Step 3: Generate the Plan

Click the "Generate Seating Plan" button to create your seating arrangement. Students will be placed in order according to your sort and allocation settings.

Customising Your Layout with Blackouts

Use blackouts to block off seats for walkways, teacher's desk areas, or reserved spaces:

• Block an entire row: Type the row number (e.g., 2 blocks out all of row 2).
• Block an entire column: Type the column letter (e.g., C blocks out all of column C).
• Block a single seat: Use brackets with the column letter and row number (e.g., (B,3) blocks only the seat at column B, row 3).
• Block multiple areas: Separate entries with commas (e.g., 1, C, (B,3) blocks row 1, column C, and seat B3).

Click "Apply Blackouts" to apply. Any students in blacked-out seats will be moved to available seats. Click "Clear Blackouts" to remove all blackouts and redistribute students.

Swapping Students

To move or swap students after generating the plan:

• Click once on a student's seat to select them (the seat will highlight in blue).
• Click on another seat to move the selected student there. If that seat has a student, they will swap places. If it's empty, the student simply moves there.

You can swap as many times as you like to get the perfect arrangement.

Student Photos

If you uploaded student photos, you can adjust their display size using the "Max image size" slider that appears after uploading. Drag it between 40px and 140px to make photos smaller or larger in the seating plan.

Exporting Your Seating Plan

When you're happy with your arrangement, you have two export options:

• Export as PNG: Downloads an image of your seating plan that you can print or share.
• Export Data: Downloads a .json datafile containing your full seating plan data (student positions, blackouts, photos, etc.). You can reload this file later using the "Upload SitYoAssDown Datafile" button to pick up right where you left off.

Both export buttons are disabled until you generate or load a seating plan.

Saving to Browser

For quick access, you can save seating plans without images directly to your browser's local storage:

• Save: Click "Save to Browser" after generating a plan. You must enter a class name first. Plans with images cannot be saved to the browser (use "Export Data" instead).
• Load: Select a previously saved plan from the "Load from Browser" dropdown and click "Load".
• Delete: Select a saved plan and click "Delete" to remove it from browser storage.

Note: Browser storage is local to this device and browser. Clearing browser data will remove saved plans.