JEN KRAMER
HARVARD UNIVERSITY EXTENSION SCHOOL
CSS4 GRID: TRUE LAYOUT
FINALLY ARRIVES
“There is no CSS Level 4… CSS the
language no longer has levels.”
https://www.w3.org/TR/css-2015/#css-levels
http://news.softpedia.com/news/w3c-set-to-publish-html-5-1-
already-started-work-on-html-5-2-508512.shtml
JEN KRAMER
HARVARD UNIVERSITY EXTENSION SCHOOL
C S SX
4 GRID: TRUE LAYOUT
FINALLY ARRIVES
PART 1
RESPONSIVE DESIGN
FLOATS
• A hack from the start, right after table-based layout!
• Features rows and cells.
• Rows clear the floats on the cells.
• Source ordering determines display, though some
(minor) rearrangement is possible.
• Major disadvantage: equal column heights
.ROW
CELL/ CELL/ CELL/ CELL/
.COL-1 .COL-1 .COL-1 .COL-1
<div class=“row”>
<div class=“col-1”></div>
<div class=“col-1”></div>
<div class=“col-1”></div>
<div class=“col-1”></div>
</div>
.ROW
CELL/ CELL/ CELL/ CELL/
.COL-1 .COL-1 .COL-1 .COL-1
.row::after { .col-1 {
content: ""; float: left;
display: table; margin-left: 4%;
clear: both; width: 20%;
} }
.ROW
CELL/ CELL/
.COL-1 .COL-1
CELL/ CELL/
.COL-1 .COL-1
@media only screen and (min-width: 480px)
and (max-width: 767px) {
.col-1 {
width: 44%;
}
}
ROW
CELL/
.COL-1
@media only screen and
CELL/ (max-width: 479px) {
.COL-1
.col-1 {
width: 98%;
margin: 1%;
CELL/
.COL-1 float: none;
}
}
CELL/
.COL-1
.ROW
CELL/
CELL/ .COL-1 There can be layout problems
.COL-1 2 with floats.
1 This can be resolved with
JavaScript, with a column
CELL/ equalizer script.
.COL-1
3
CELL/
.COL-1
4
/* rearranging the columns */
[class*="col-"] {
position: relative;
}
.col-push-1 {
left: 26%;
}
.col-pull-3 {
left: -74%;
}
NEXT UP
FLEXBOX
FLEXBOX
• The first layout elements – but not designed to lay out
whole web pages
• Features flex-containers (row) and flex-items (cells). Both are
required to work.
• Excels at vertical centering and equal heights
• Very easy to reorder boxes
• Major disadvantages:
• Wasn’t designed to be locked down for layouts! Works in
1 dimension only.
• Browser support and syntax is challenging.
.ROW/CONTAINER
ITEM/ ITEM/ ITEM/ ITEM/
.COL-1 .COL-1 .COL-1 .COL-1
<div class=“row”>
<div class=“col-1”></div>
<div class=“col-1”></div>
<div class=“col-1”></div>
<div class=“col-1”></div>
</div>
.row {
display: flex;
flex-flow: row wrap;
justify-content: center;
margin: 1%;
}
Change flex-flow to other values to change
direction of rows – row reverse, column
reverse, no wrap
.col-1 {
flex: 0 0 24%; /* desktop */
}
flex: 0 0 48%; /* tablet */
}
flex: 0 0 98%; /* phone */
}
To change widths on .col-1, change the
flex-basis property. This is more flexible than
width.
/* rearranging the columns */
.col-push-1 {
order: 2;
}
.col-pull-3 {
order: 1;
}
FINALLY!
CSS GRID
WHY CSS GRID?
• Built into CSS specification (in development).
• No “row” markup required.
• Grid is designed to work in 2 dimensions.
• Use Flexbox for UI elements, but use Grid for major
layout.
https://drafts.csswg.org/css-grid/
ISSUES, WE’VE HAD A FEW
• Now supported in latest versions of Firefox and
Chrome – with Edge to follow shortly
• Old grid spec supported in IE 10 and 11 (will never be
updated to new spec)
• Lots of bugs to go around
• http://gridbyexample.com/browsers/ -- latest info
.WRAPPER
CELL/ CELL/ CELL/ CELL/
.COL-1 .COL-2 .COL-3 .COL-4
<div class=“wrapper”>
<div class=“col-1”></div>
<div class=“col-2”></div>
<div class=“col-3”></div>
<div class=“col-4”></div>
</div>
.WRAPPER
CELL/ CELL/ CELL/ CELL/
.COL-1 .COL-2 .COL-3 .COL-4
.wrapper {
display: grid;
grid-gap: 10px;
}
.WRAPPER
CELL/ CELL/ CELL/ CELL/
1 .COL-1 2 .COL-2 3 .COL-3 4 .COL-4 5
.col-1 {
grid-column: 1 / 2;
}
.col-2 {
grid-column: 2 / 3;
}
.col-3 {
grid-column: 3 / 4;
}
.col-1 {
.WRAPPER grid-column: 1 / 2;
CELL/ grid-row: 1 / 3;
.COL-2
}
.col-2 {
CELL/
grid-column: 2 / 3;
.COL-1 grid-row: 1 / 2;
CELL/
.COL-3
}
.col-3 {
grid-column: 2 / 3;
grid-row: 2 / 3;
}
ALTERNATE SYNTAX
• Named grid template areas (header, footer, etc):
http://gridbyexample.com/examples/#example11
REORDERING
.WRAPPER
HEADER
<div class=“wrapper”>
<header></header>
ASIDE
<article></article>
ARTICLE <aside></aside>
</div>
REORDERING
.WRAPPER
HEADER
Show code in GitHub!
ASIDE reordering.html
ARTICLE
reordering.css
https://github.com/jen4web/cssgrid
CURRENT RECOMMENDATIONS
• Need browser support? Can’t go wrong with floats.
• If you are OK with a few prefixes and learning
something new, Flexbox may be a reasonable interim
step.
• PS – it’s in Bootstrap 4. Get used to it.
• Keep waiting for CSS Grid! Coming to a browser near
you Real Soon!
