iPadOS and its screen layout, in particular implementation of Widgets, has developed and matured significantly over recent releases of iPadOS. iPadOS 16/17 significantly differs from earlier versions in many aspects.
I note that the tags appended to your post suggest that you are using iPadOS 15. If you are concerned that your Today View (which incorporates Widgets) bunches your Home Screen App icons - this can be disabled from settings. Unfortunately I no longer have any iPads with iPadOS 15 installed - and cannot recall the location of the specific setting to disable this feature.
Regardless of version, if you don't like Widgets, they don't have to be used; you can simply delete them if not needed or if they are disliked. With Widgets removed from the Home Screen, your iPad layout will be as you perhaps prefer. Widgets are simply removed in the same manner as any other App from a Home screen - as detailed within the iPad User Guide:
Move apps and widgets on the Home Screen on iPad - Apple Support
When using Home Screen Widgets, the icon matrix (rows/columns) may change to accommodate the Widgets - which are larger than App icons...
App, App Folder and Widgets placed on a Home Screen individually occupy one or more elements of fixed grid pattern - for larger screen devices, this typically being a 4x6 icon grid. Home Screens without Widgets have an additional row - and as such for the same example with have a 5x6 icon grid. Clearly, smaller screens can accommodate fewer rows/columns than larger screens.
A Widget, where used, will occupy 1 row x 1 column, 1x2 or 2x2 elements of the available icon matrix.
The size of App and App Folder icons, along with their identifying text can be altered via iPad settings. However the grid - and therefore the spacing between widgets - is fixed.
For iPadOS 16/17, the accessible settings that alter arrangement of the Home Screen grid spacing are:
- Settings > Display & Brightness > Display Zoom - Select Larger Text, Default, or for large screen models, More Space
- Settings > Home Screen & Multitasking > Home Screen > Use Large App Icons - select ON or OFF as required
I hope this information provides some useful insight into the current implementation.
