Mastering CSS Grid Template for Responsive Design

CSS Grid Template is a game-changer for responsive design, allowing you to create complex layouts with ease. It's a low-maintenance system that can handle dynamic content and adapt to different screen sizes.

Grid templates are defined using the grid-template-rows and grid-template-columns properties, which specify the number of rows and columns. You can also use the grid-template-areas property to define the areas of the grid.

The grid-template-areas property is particularly useful for creating complex layouts, as it allows you to define the areas of the grid using a simple text-based syntax. This makes it easier to visualize and create the layout.

The grid container is the backbone of CSS Grid, and it's essential to understand its role. It's the element on which display: grid is applied, and it's the direct parent of all the grid items.

The grid container is where you'll apply various properties to define the structure of your grid. Let's take a look at some of the key properties for the parent, or grid container.

Here are some of the properties you can use on the grid container:

Grid Template is a crucial part of CSS Grid Layout, allowing you to define the structure and layout of your grid. You can declare grid template properties using the grid-template-* properties or the masonry-template-* properties.

The grid-template-* properties apply in the grid axis of the masonry container and establish tracks just as on regular grid containers. This includes grid-template-columns and grid-template-rows, which set the column and row sizes.

You can also use grid-template-areas to define a grid area with custom names, such as sidebar, main, etc. This is useful for creating complex layouts with multiple areas.

Here are the different types of grid template properties:

Note that grid-template-columns can be used to create explicit grid column tracks, but it cannot be nested within another repeat() function.

As of March 2017, most browsers shipped native, unprefixed support for CSS Grid, making it a great time to start building with it. Chrome, including Android, Firefox, Safari, and Opera all support it.

To get started, you need to define a container element as a grid with display: grid. This is the foundation of your grid layout.

Setting the column and row sizes with grid-template-columns and grid-template-rows is the next step. This will determine the structure of your grid.

The source order of the grid items doesn't matter, which is a big advantage of using CSS Grid. You can place them in any order you like.

With grid-column and grid-row, you can position your grid items exactly where you want them.

The full definition of grid-template-columns and grid-template-rows is quite straightforward. It defines the columns and rows of the grid with a space-separated list of values, where the values represent the track size and the space between them represents the grid line.

The track size can be a length, a percentage, or a fraction of the free space in the grid using the fr unit. This unit allows you to set the size of a track as a fraction of the free space of the grid container.

Grid lines are automatically assigned positive numbers from these assignments, with -1 being an alternate for the very last row. You can choose to explicitly name the lines, and a line can have more than one name.

Here's a summary of the possible values for track size:

Note that a line can have more than one name, and if multiple lines share the same name, they can be referenced by their line name and count.

Display is a crucial part of grid template, and it's what makes grid items visible on the page.

You can define an element as a grid container and establish a new grid formatting context for its contents by using the display property and setting it to grid or inline-grid.

The difference between grid and inline-grid is that grid generates a block-level grid, while inline-grid generates an inline-level grid.

Here's a quick rundown of the display options:

These options are detailed in the CSS Grid specification, so be sure to check that out for more information.

The repeat() function is a game-changer for grid templates. It can save you a ton of typing by repeating a pattern of columns.

One of the coolest things about repeat() is that it can get extra fancy when combined with keywords. These keywords help you fine-tune the behavior of the repeated columns.

The auto-fill keyword is particularly useful, as it allows you to fit as many possible columns as possible on a row, even if they are empty. This is super helpful when you have a lot of data to display.

The auto-fit keyword, on the other hand, is great for fitting whatever columns there are into the space, even if they're not all the same width. This helps your grid template adapt to different screen sizes and devices.

Here are the two keywords you can use with repeat():

When you set grid-template-columns to none, it's like giving CSS a blank slate. This default value means that grid-template-columns generates no explicit grid tracks.

Using the none value means that columns are implicitly generated, and the track sizing is defined by the grid-auto-columns property. This is a big difference from explicit grids, which are defined by you.

The difference between implicit and explicit grids is nicely summed up in this post by Manuel Matuzovic, but essentially, with none, you're letting CSS do the work for you.

Flex is a non-negative value expressed in fr units that lets you create flexible grid tracks by specifying the size of a track as a fraction of the available space in the grid container.

This makes for a more responsive grid, as the grid changes widths, so do the columns. For example, consider a three-column grid container that’s 900px wide.

The second two columns are fractional, so they’re going to take any remaining available space. And, in this case, the available space is whatever is leftover after the first column’s fixed 300px width is taken into account.

The remaining and available space is 600px (i.e. 900px minus 300px). One fraction of 600px is 200px.

This means the second column is 200px as well, and leaves us with 400px of available space. The benefit of using flex is that our columns will never overflow the grid container.

Adding a gap to the grid tracks is like declaring two gaps, one between each column. In this example, we have 30px worth of gaps in our grid that have to be factored into the available space.

Grid Layout is a powerful tool for creating complex and dynamic layouts. It allows you to define a grid system with rows and columns, and then place items within that grid using various properties.

You can use grid-template-areas to describe the layout of your grid, with each string representing a row and allowing you to span multiple tracks by repeating the name in all of the cells. This property can be used on its own or in combination with grid-template-rows and grid-template-columns.

The grid-auto-flow property can be used to specify the order in which items are placed in the grid, with options including row, column, and masonry. The masonry layout algorithm places items in the grid axis, keeping a running position and auto-placement cursor, and choosing the track that would result in the item being placed as highly as possible.

Here are some common values for the align-content property:

You can also use grid-template-areas in responsive design, redefining the value of grid-template-areas at different breakpoints to create different layouts. This can be a useful approach for building up components in a component library.

The layout algorithm is a crucial aspect of grid layout, determining how items are placed within the grid container. It's a complex process, but don't worry, I've got the basics covered.

The auto-placement algorithm kicks in when you don't explicitly place grid items on the grid. This algorithm is controlled by the grid-auto-flow property, which can be set to row, column, or dense. For example, setting grid-auto-flow to row tells the algorithm to fill in each row in turn, adding new rows as necessary.

The algorithm chooses the track that would result in the item being placed as highly as possible, and if there are ties, it chooses the earliest such track. This is explained in the CSS Grid Layout specification, specifically in the section on masonry layout and placement algorithm.

To illustrate this, let's consider an example where you define a grid with five columns and two rows, and set grid-auto-flow to row. When placing the items on the grid, you only specify spots for two of them. The algorithm will then fill in the remaining rows with the remaining items.

Here's a summary of the grid-auto-flow values:

Note that dense only changes the visual order of your items and might cause them to appear out of order, which is bad for accessibility.

Grid layout offers a flexible and powerful way to arrange content on a webpage. You can create complex layouts using the grid-template-columns and grid-template-rows properties.

The grid layout model is similar to the grid layout in one axis, but flows items freely in the other axis, similar to flex layout. This is known as the masonry layout model. A masonry container is a box whose contents participate in masonry layout.

Masonry layout distributes items across tracks to keep the lengths of those tracks as similar as possible. Grid items are formed and blockified exactly the same as in a regular grid container. You can use the order property to specify a different layout order for items.

A masonry container is a column masonry container if its stacking axis is the block axis, or a row masonry container if its stacking axis is the inline axis. You can establish a masonry container using either grid-integrated syntax or grid-independent syntax.

Here are the main differences between grid-integrated syntax and grid-independent syntax for establishing a masonry container:

Note that subgrid items are supported, but subgridding only occurs in the grid axis.

Equal columns can be achieved by using the fr unit to size a grid's columns, which distributes the available space after the content decides how much space each column needs.

However, this method may not always produce truly equal columns, as the minimum size of a grid layout is auto and depends on the length of the content.

To get truly equal columns, you can supply a zero value in minmax() functions for each column, like this: grid-template-columns: 1fr 1fr 1fr.

This will ensure that the available space is distributed evenly among the columns, resulting in equal-sized columns.

Baseline alignment is a powerful tool in grid layout, and understanding how it works in different axes is crucial for creating visually appealing and functional designs.

In the grid axis, baseline alignment works the same as in a regular grid container. This means that item baseline alignment tracks as usual, and the grid container's baseline is determined the same way as for a regular grid container.

However, things get a bit more complicated in the stacking axis. Baseline alignment is not supported in this axis, which means you can't align items based on their text baselines. Instead, the first baseline set of the grid container is generated from the alignment baseline of the first grid item in the first occupied track.

Here's a summary of how baseline alignment works in the stacking axis:

In the stacking axis, the last baseline set is generated from the last grid item placed, not necessarily the last lowest item. This can affect how your design looks, especially if you have items of varying heights.

Each grid axis track is fragmented independently in the stacking axis. This means that if a grid item is fragmented, or has a forced break before/after it, the running position for the tracks that it spans in the grid axis are set to the size of the fragmentainer so that no further items will be placed in those tracks.

A grid item that is split into multiple fragments retains its placement in the grid axis for all its fragments. This is an important consideration when working with masonry layout, where items can be placed in a grid container in a non-sequential order.

If a grid item is pushed, it is placed again by the next grid container fragment. Placement continues until all items are placed or pushed to a new fragment.

Here's a summary of the fragmentation rules in the stacking axis:

The containing block is a crucial concept in grid layout. It refers to the area that contains a grid item, especially when it comes to masonry layouts.

In masonry layouts, the containing block for a grid item is formed by its grid area in the grid axis and the grid container's content box in the stacking axis. This is a key point to understand when working with grid layouts.

The grid container itself is the direct parent of all grid items, and it's the element on which display: grid is applied. This makes it the foundation of the grid layout.

In a block-level grid container, the nested elements inside this element are called grid items. They are arranged within the grid container, which is defined by the display: grid property/value.

Grid properties are used to control the layout of items in a grid container. The grid-auto-flow property specifies the direction in which grid items are placed, with options including row, column, row-reverse, and column-reverse.

The grid-auto-flow property has a few important values to know about. You can use the dense keyword to pack items tightly, or the wrap-reverse keyword to reverse the direction of the grid item placement algorithm. The initial value of grid-auto-flow is row.

Here are the possible values for the grid-auto-flow property:

In masonry layouts, the flow axis specified by grid-auto-flow is ignored, and items are always placed by filling across the grid axis.

The gap between grid items is a crucial aspect of grid layout, and it's surprisingly easy to manage. You can specify the size of the grid lines using properties like column-gap, row-gap, grid-column-gap, and grid-row-gap.

These properties take a length value, which determines the width of the gutters between columns and rows. Note that the gutters are only created between the columns and rows, not on the outer edges.

If you want to set the same gap value for both rows and columns, you can use the grid-gap shorthand property, which is equivalent to specifying both row-gap and column-gap. This is a convenient way to simplify your code.

Here's a summary of the gap properties:

Keep in mind that the grid- prefix is deprecated, but it's still supported in most modern browsers. If you're using Chrome, Safari, or Opera, you can already use the unprefixed properties like column-gap, row-gap, and gap.

Justify-Content is a crucial property in CSS Grid that determines how the grid items are positioned within the grid container. It's used when the total size of the grid items is smaller than the grid container.

The justify-content property has several values, including start, end, center, stretch, space-around, space-between, and space-evenly. These values control how the grid items are spaced and aligned within the grid container.

The start value aligns the grid to be flush with the start edge of the grid container. On the other hand, the end value aligns the grid to be flush with the end edge of the grid container.

Using the center value will align the grid in the center of the grid container. This can be useful when you want to create a symmetrical layout.

If you want the grid items to resize and fill the full width of the grid container, you can use the stretch value. This is useful when you want the grid to expand horizontally across the container.

The space-around value includes an equal amount of space on each side of a grid element, resulting in double the amount of space between elements as there is before the first and after the last element.

Here's a quick reference for the justify-content values:

Using the space-between value will place an equal amount of space between grid items and no space at either end. This can be useful when you want to create a layout with evenly spaced items.

Optimized track sizing is a crucial aspect of grid layout, and it's essential to understand how it works. In CSS Grid, track sizing is done by aggregating items that have the same span size and placement into a single virtual item.

Items with the same span size and placement are grouped together, and a virtual masonry item is synthesized with the maximum intrinsic size contribution among the items in that group. If the items apply baseline alignment, the baselines of the virtual masonry item are determined by placing all of its items into a single hypothetical grid track and finding their shared baseline(s) and shims.

This process is repeated for each item group, and hypothetical copies of each virtual masonry item are placed into the grid axis tracks in every position that the item could potentially occupy. The resulting track sizes are the masonry container's track sizes.

Here's a step-by-step breakdown of the optimized track sizing process:

By following this process, you can ensure that your grid layout is optimized and accurately sized for your content.

Justify Self is a crucial property in CSS Grid that determines how a grid item positions itself along the row or inline axis. It's used to override the inherited value of the justify-items property on the container.

The justify-self property can be set to one of four values: start, end, center, or stretch. If you set justify-self to start, the grid item will be positioned on the left side of the grid area. If you set it to end, the grid item will be positioned on the right side of the grid area. Center alignment is, well, centered, and stretch will fill the whole width of the cell.

Here's a quick reference to the justify-self values:

Keep in mind that if you set the justify-self value, it will override the inherited value of the justify-items property on the container. So, if you want to set the alignment for an individual grid item, use justify-self.

Reordering and accessibility are crucial considerations when working with grid properties. Masonry layout, in particular, can switch between laying out items in a forwards fashion and switching between them in an arbitrary manner.

This can lead to backtracking, which can disrupt the natural flow of focus and reading order. Authors should be aware of these possibilities and design layouts where such backtracking is minimized.

To achieve this, you can use the masonry-slack property to reduce the feeling of backtracking due to small sizing differences in the block axis. A good value for masonry-slack is one that's large enough to avoid gratuitous differentiation among similarly-sized tracks, but not so large that meaningful differences get ignored.

Here are some tips to keep in mind:

If reordering is necessary, you can use the order property, but be aware of the same caveats that apply to grid layout and flex layout.

Writing Modes can be a bit tricky, but understanding them is key to creating effective grid layouts. Grid layout, including masonry layout, is sensitive to the writing mode.

For example, in a right-to-left (rtl) direction, items are placed right-to-left rather than left-to-right, regardless of whether the inline axis is a grid axis or a stacking axis. This means your layout will adapt to the language or direction of your content.

Grid properties can be a bit overwhelming, but don't worry, we've got this. The Property Index is a great resource to understand what each property does.

The grid-auto-flow property is used to specify the auto-placement algorithm, which is the order in which grid items are placed in the grid. Its value can be [row | column | row-reverse | column-reverse] || dense || wrap-reverse.

Grid containers use the grid-auto-flow property, and it's not inherited by child elements. The initial value is row, and the animation type is discrete.

Masonry containers, on the other hand, use the masonry-direction property to specify the direction of the auto-placed items. Its value can be row | column | row-reverse | column-reverse.

The masonry-direction property has an initial value of column, and it's not inherited by child elements. The animation type is discrete, and it's specified per grammar.

Here's a summary of the properties we've covered so far:

The masonry-fill property is used to specify how the auto-placed items should be filled in the grid. Its value can be normal | reverse.

Masonry containers use the masonry-fill property, and it's not inherited by child elements. The initial value is normal, and the animation type is discrete, specified per grammar.