25/5/2021 A Complete Guide to Flexbox | CSS-Tricks

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A Complete Guide to Flexbox

Chris Coyier on Apr 8, 2013 (Updated on Apr 7, 2021)

Our comprehensive guide to CSS flexbox layout. This complete guide

explains everything about flexbox, focusing on all the different possible
properties for the parent element (the flex container) and the child elements
(the flex items). It also includes history, demos, patterns, and a browser
support chart.

(#table-of-contents) Table of contents

Part 1: Background (#background)

Part 2: Basics and terminology (#basics-and-terminology)
Part 3: Flexbox properties (#flexbox-properties)
Part 4: Prefixing Flexbox (#prefixing-flexbox)
Part 5: Examples (#examples)
Part 6: Flexbox tricks (#flexbox-tricks)
Part 7: Browser support (#browser-support)
Part 8: Bugs (#bugs)
Part 9: Related properties (#related-properties)
Part 10: More information (#more-information)

(#get-the-poster) Get the poster!

Reference this guide a lot? Pin a copy up on the office wall.

Buy Poster (/product/css-flexbox-poster/)

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(/product/css-flexbox-poster/)

(#background) Background
The Flexbox Layout (Flexible Box) module (a W3C Candidate Recommendation
(https://www.w3.org/TR/css-flexbox/) as of October 2017) aims at providing a more
efficient way to lay out, align and distribute space among items in a container, even when
their size is unknown and/or dynamic (thus the word “flex”).

The main idea behind the flex layout is to give the container the ability to alter its items’
width/height (and order) to best fill the available space (mostly to accommodate to all
kind of display devices and screen sizes). A flex container expands items to fill available
free space or shrinks them to prevent overflow.

Most importantly, the flexbox layout is direction-agnostic as opposed to the regular

layouts (block which is vertically-based and inline which is horizontally-based). While
those work well for pages, they lack flexibility (no pun intended) to support large or
complex applications (especially when it comes to orientation changing, resizing,
stretching, shrinking, etc.).

Note: Flexbox layout is most appropriate to the components of an application, and small-
scale layouts, while the Grid (https://css-tricks.com/snippets/css/complete-guide-grid/)
layout is intended for larger scale layouts.

(#basics-and-terminology) Basics and terminology

Since flexbox is a whole module and not a single property, it involves a lot of things
including its whole set of properties. Some of them are meant to be set on the container

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(parent element, known as “flex container”) whereas the others are meant to be set on the
children (said “flex items”).

If “regular” layout is based on both block and inline flow directions, the flex layout is
based on “flex-flow directions”. Please have a look at this figure from the specification,
explaining the main idea behind the flex layout.

Items will be laid out following either the main axis (from main-start to main-end )
or the cross axis (from cross-start to cross-end ).

⦾ main axis – The main axis of a flex container is the primary axis along which flex items
are laid out. Beware, it is not necessarily horizontal; it depends on the flex-
direction property (see below).
⦾ main-start | main-end – The flex items are placed within the container starting from
main-start and going to main-end.
⦾ main size – A flex item’s width or height, whichever is in the main dimension, is the
item’s main size. The flex item’s main size property is either the ‘width’ or ‘height’
property, whichever is in the main dimension.
⦾ cross axis – The axis perpendicular to the main axis is called the cross axis. Its
direction depends on the main axis direction.
⦾ cross-start | cross-end – Flex lines are filled with items and placed into the container
starting on the cross-start side of the flex container and going toward the cross-end
side.
⦾ cross size – The width or height of a flex item, whichever is in the cross dimension, is
the item’s cross size. The cross size property is whichever of ‘width’ or ‘height’ that is
in the cross dimension.

(#flexbox-properties) Flexbox properties

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(#properties-for-the-parentflex-container) Properties
for the Parent
(flex container)

(#display) display
This defines a flex container; inline or block depending on the given value. It
enables a flex context for all its direct children.

CSS

.container {
display: flex; /* or inline-flex */
}

Note that CSS columns have no effect on a flex container.

(#flex-direction) flex-direction

This establishes the main-axis, thus defining the direction flex items are placed
in the flex container. Flexbox is (aside from optional wrapping) a single-
direction layout concept. Think of flex items as primarily laying out either in
horizontal rows or vertical columns.

CSS

.container {
flex-direction: row | row-reverse | column | column-reverse;
}

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⦾ row (default): left to right in ltr ; right to left in rtl

⦾ row-reverse : right to left in ltr ; left to right in rtl
⦾ column : same as row but top to bottom
⦾ column-reverse : same as row-reverse but bottom to top

(#flex-wrap) flex-wrap

By default, flex items will all try to fit onto one line. You can change that and
allow the items to wrap as needed with this property.

CSS

.container {
flex-wrap: nowrap | wrap | wrap-reverse;
}

⦾ nowrap (default): all flex items will be on one line

⦾ wrap : flex items will wrap onto multiple lines, from top to bottom.
⦾ wrap-reverse : flex items will wrap onto multiple lines from bottom to top.

There are some visual demos of flex-wrap here (https://css-

tricks.com/almanac/properties/f/flex-wrap/) .

(#flex-flow) flex-flow
This is a shorthand for the flex-direction and flex-wrap properties,
which together define the flex container’s main and cross axes. The default
value is row nowrap .

CSS

.container {
flex-flow: column wrap;
}

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(#justify-content) justify-content

This defines the alignment along the main axis. It helps distribute extra free
space leftover when either all the flex items on a line are inflexible, or are
flexible but have reached their maximum size. It also exerts some control over
the alignment of items when they overflow the line.

CSS

.container {
justify-content: flex-start | flex-end | center | space-between | space-around | space
}

⦾ flex-start (default): items are packed toward the start of the flex-
direction.

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⦾ flex-end : items are packed toward the end of the flex-direction.

⦾ start : items are packed toward the start of the writing-mode direction.
⦾ end : items are packed toward the end of the writing-mode direction.
⦾ left : items are packed toward left edge of the container, unless that doesn’t
make sense with the flex-direction , then it behaves like start .
⦾ right : items are packed toward right edge of the container, unless that
doesn’t make sense with the flex-direction , then it behaves like end .
⦾ center : items are centered along the line
⦾ space-between : items are evenly distributed in the line; first item is on the
start line, last item on the end line
⦾ space-around : items are evenly distributed in the line with equal space
around them. Note that visually the spaces aren’t equal, since all the items
have equal space on both sides. The first item will have one unit of space
against the container edge, but two units of space between the next item
because that next item has its own spacing that applies.
⦾ space-evenly : items are distributed so that the spacing between any two
items (and the space to the edges) is equal.

Note that that browser support for these values is nuanced. For example,
space-between never got support from some versions of Edge, and
start/end/left/right aren’t in Chrome yet. MDN has detailed charts
(https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/justify-content) . The
safest values are flex-start , flex-end , and center .

There are also two additional keywords you can pair with these values: safe
and unsafe . Using safe ensures that however you do this type of positioning,
you can’t push an element such that it renders off-screen (e.g. off the top) in
such a way the content can’t be scrolled too (called “data loss”).

(#align-items) align-items

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This defines the default behavior for how flex items are laid out along the cross
axis on the current line. Think of it as the justify-content version for the
cross-axis (perpendicular to the main-axis).

CSS

.container {
align-items: stretch | flex-start | flex-end | center | baseline | first baseline | la
}

⦾ stretch (default): stretch to fill the container (still respect min-

width/max-width)
⦾ flex-start / start / self-start : items are placed at the start of the
cross axis. The difference between these is subtle, and is about respecting
the flex-direction rules or the writing-mode rules.
⦾ flex-end / end / self-end : items are placed at the end of the cross axis.
The difference again is subtle and is about respecting flex-direction
rules vs. writing-mode rules.
⦾ center : items are centered in the cross-axis
⦾ baseline : items are aligned such as their baselines align

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The safe and unsafe modifier keywords can be used in conjunction with all
the rest of these keywords (although note browser support
(https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/align-items) ), and deal
with helping you prevent aligning elements such that the content becomes
inaccessible.

(#align-content) align-content

This aligns a flex container’s lines within when there is extra space in the
cross-axis, similar to how justify-content aligns individual items within
the main-axis.

Hey! Note: This property only takes effect on multi-line flexible containers, where flex-flow is set to either
wrap or wrap-reverse ). A single-line flexible container (i.e. where flex-flow is set to its default
value, no-wrap ) will not reflect align-content .

CSS

.container {
align-content: flex-start | flex-end | center | space-between | space-around | space-e
}

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⦾ normal (default): items are packed in their default position as if no value

was set.
⦾ flex-start / start : items packed to the start of the container. The (more
supported) flex-start honors the flex-direction while start honors
the writing-mode direction.
⦾ flex-end / end : items packed to the end of the container. The (more
support) flex-end honors the flex-direction while end honors the
writing-mode direction.
⦾ center : items centered in the container
⦾ space-between : items evenly distributed; the first line is at the start of the
container while the last one is at the end
⦾ space-around : items evenly distributed with equal space around each line
⦾ space-evenly : items are evenly distributed with equal space around them
⦾ stretch : lines stretch to take up the remaining space

The safe and unsafe modifier keywords can be used in conjunction with all
the rest of these keywords (although note browser support
(https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/align-items) ), and deal
with helping you prevent aligning elements such that the content becomes
inaccessible.

(#properties-for-the-childrenflex-items) Properties for the

Children
(flex items)

(#order) order

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By default, flex items are laid out in the source order. However, the order
property controls the order in which they appear in the flex container.

CSS

.item {
order: 5; /* default is 0 */
}

(#flex-grow) flex-grow

This defines the ability for a flex item to grow if necessary. It accepts a unitless
value that serves as a proportion. It dictates what amount of the available space
inside the flex container the item should take up.

If all items have flex-grow set to 1, the remaining space in the container will be
distributed equally to all children. If one of the children has a value of 2, the
remaining space would take up twice as much space as the others (or it will try to,
at least).

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CSS

.item {
flex-grow: 4; /* default 0 */
}

Negative numbers are invalid.

(#flex-shrink) flex-shrink
This defines the ability for a flex item to shrink if necessary.

CSS

.item {
flex-shrink: 3; /* default 1 */
}

Negative numbers are invalid.

(#flex-basis) flex-basis
This defines the default size of an element before the remaining space is
distributed. It can be a length (e.g. 20%, 5rem, etc.) or a keyword. The auto
keyword means “look at my width or height property” (which was temporarily
done by the main-size keyword until deprecated). The content keyword means
“size it based on the item’s content” – this keyword isn’t well supported yet, so it’s
hard to test and harder to know what its brethren max-content , min-content ,
and fit-content do.

CSS

.item {
flex-basis: | auto; /* default auto */
}

If set to 0 , the extra space around content isn’t factored in. If set to auto , the
extra space is distributed based on its flex-grow value. See this graphic.
(https://www.w3.org/TR/css3-flexbox/images/rel-vs-abs-flex.svg)

(#flex) flex

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This is the shorthand for flex-grow, flex-shrink and flex-basis

combined. The second and third parameters ( flex-shrink and flex-basis )
are optional. The default is 0 1 auto , but if you set it with a single number value,
it’s like 1 0 .

CSS

.item {
flex: none | [ <'flex-grow'> <'flex-shrink'>? || <'flex-basis'> ]
}

It is recommended that you use this shorthand property rather than set the
individual properties. The shorthand sets the other values intelligently.

(#align-self) align-self

This allows the default alignment (or the one specified by align-items ) to be
overridden for individual flex items.

Please see the align-items explanation to understand the available values.

CSS

.item {
align-self: auto | flex-start | flex-end | center | baseline | stretch;
}

Note that float , clear and vertical-align have no effect on a flex item.

(#prefixing-flexbox) Prefixing Flexbox

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Flexbox requires some vendor prefixing to support the most browsers possible. It doesn’t
just include prepending properties with the vendor prefix, but there are actually entirely
different property and value names. This is because the Flexbox spec has changed over
time, creating an “old”, “tweener”, and “new” (https://css-tricks.com/old-flexbox-and-
new-flexbox/) versions.

Perhaps the best way to handle this is to write in the new (and final) syntax and run your
CSS through Autoprefixer (https://css-tricks.com/autoprefixer/) , which handles the
fallbacks very well.

Alternatively, here’s a Sass @mixin to help with some of the prefixing, which also gives
you an idea of what kind of things need to be done:

SCSS

@mixin flexbox() {
display: -webkit-box;
display: -moz-box;
display: -ms-flexbox;
display: -webkit-flex;
display: flex;
}

@mixin flex($values) {
-webkit-box-flex: $values;
-moz-box-flex: $values;
-webkit-flex: $values;
-ms-flex: $values;
flex: $values;
}

@mixin order($val) {
-webkit-box-ordinal-group: $val;
-moz-box-ordinal-group: $val;
-ms-flex-order: $val;
-webkit-order: $val;
order: $val;
}

.wrapper {
@include flexbox();
}

.item {
@include flex(1 200px);
@include order(2);
}

(#examples) Examples

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Let’s start with a very very simple example, solving an almost daily problem: perfect
centering. It couldn’t be any simpler if you use flexbox.

CSS

.parent {
display: flex;
height: 300px; /* Or whatever */
}

.child {
width: 100px; /* Or whatever */
height: 100px; /* Or whatever */
margin: auto; /* Magic! */
}

This relies on the fact a margin set to auto in a flex container absorb extra space. So
setting a vertical margin of auto will make the item perfectly centered in both axes.

Now let’s use some more properties. Consider a list of 6 items, all with fixed dimensions,
but can be auto-sized. We want them to be evenly distributed on the horizontal axis so
that when we resize the browser, everything scales nicely, and without media queries.

CSS

.flex-container {
/* We first create a flex layout context */
display: flex;

/* Then we define the flow direction

and if we allow the items to wrap
* Remember this is the same as:
* flex-direction: row;
* flex-wrap: wrap;
*/
flex-flow: row wrap;

/* Then we define how is distributed the remaining space */

justify-content: space-around;
}

Done. Everything else is just some styling concern. Below is a pen featuring this example.
Be sure to go to CodePen and try resizing your windows to see what happens.

Embedded Pen Here

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Let’s try something else. Imagine we have a right-aligned navigation element on the very
top of our website, but we want it to be centered on medium-sized screens and single-
columned on small devices. Easy enough.

CSS

/* Large */
.navigation {
display: flex;
flex-flow: row wrap;
/* This aligns items to the end line on main-axis */
justify-content: flex-end;
}

/* Medium screens */
@media all and (max-width: 800px) {
.navigation {
/* When on medium sized screens, we center it by evenly distributing empty space around items *
justify-content: space-around;
}
}

/* Small screens */
@media all and (max-width: 500px) {
.navigation {
/* On small screens, we are no longer using row direction but column */
flex-direction: column;
}
}

Embedded Pen Here

Let’s try something even better by playing with flex items flexibility! What about a
mobile-first 3-columns layout with full-width header and footer. And independent from
source order.

CSS

.wrapper {
display: flex;
flex-flow: row wrap;
}

/* We tell all items to be 100% width, via flex-basis */

.wrapper > * {
flex: 1 100%;
}

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/* We rely on source order for mobile-first approach

* in this case:
* 1. header
* 2. article
* 3. aside 1
* 4. aside 2
* 5. footer
*/

/* Medium screens */
@media all and (min-width: 600px) {
/* We tell both sidebars to share a row */
.aside { flex: 1 auto; }
}

/* Large screens */
@media all and (min-width: 800px) {
/* We invert order of first sidebar and main
* And tell the main element to take twice as much width as the other two sidebars
*/
.main { flex: 2 0px; }
.aside-1 { order: 1; }
.main { order: 2; }
.aside-2 { order: 3; }
.footer { order: 4; }
}

Embedded Pen Here

(#flexbox-tricks) Flexbox Tricks

Article on Oct 3, 2019 Article on Oct 9, 2020

Adaptive Photo Layout with Flexbox Balancing on a Pivot with Flexbox
(https://css-tricks.com/adaptive- (https://css-tricks.com/balancing-on-
photo-layout-with-flexbox/) a-pivot-with-flexbox/)

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