Being able to adjust flow direction, padding, etc. and then perpetuate those changes across multiple elements makes me more likely to experiment. That's exactl

Being able to adjust flow direction, padding, etc. and then perpetuate those changes across multiple elements makes me more likely to experiment. That's exactly my point. It makes you more likely to experiment in that way and less likely to experiment in other ways. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I think it's one reason why designers and design tools don't focus on automatic layout as much.