1. A computer-implemented method comprising: laying out a plurality of floating objects in a layout space including computing a bottom edge property for each of the plurality of floating objects, each of the plurality of floating objects being a left-floating object or a right-floating object, the bottom edge property being a boolean value indicating whether, at a time of insertion, a bottom edge of the each floating object is lower than or equal to all other floating objects previously laid out within a same flow; computing flow contours in the layout space for the left-floating objects and the right-floating objects of the plurality of floating objects using at least the bottom edge properties of the floating objects, the flow contours being abstractions of the left-floating objects and the right-floating objects in the layout space; computing a list of sorted points for each computed flow contour, each point in the list of sorted points representing a point on the each computed flow contour where the each computed flow contour changes direction; and using the flow contours and the lists of sorted points to perform one or more of content measuring operations or content insertion operations.