CSS: Grid Layout Module

Grid Layout

The CSS Grid Layout Module offers a grid-based layout system, with rows and columns, making it easier to design web pages without having to use floats and positioning.

Grid Elements

A grid layout consists of a parent element, with one or more child elements.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
.grid-container {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: auto auto auto;
  background-color: #2196F3;
  padding: 10px;
}
.grid-item {
  background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);
  border: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8);
  padding: 20px;
  font-size: 30px;
  text-align: center;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>

<h1>Grid Elements</h1>

<p>A Grid Layout must have a parent element with the <em>display</em> property set to <em>grid</em> or <em>inline-grid</em>.</p>

<p>Direct child element(s) of the grid container automatically becomes grid items.</p>

<div class="grid-container">
  <div class="grid-item">1</div>
  <div class="grid-item">2</div>
  <div class="grid-item">3</div>  
  <div class="grid-item">4</div>
  <div class="grid-item">5</div>
  <div class="grid-item">6</div>  
  <div class="grid-item">7</div>
  <div class="grid-item">8</div>
  <div class="grid-item">9</div>  
</div>

</body>
</html>

Display Property

An HTML element becomes a grid container by setting the display property to grid or inline-grid.

.grid-container {
  display: grid;
}

All direct children of the grid container automatically become grid items.

Grid Columns

The vertical line of grid items are called columns.

Grid Rows

The horizontal line of grid items are called rows.

Grid Gaps

The space between each column/row are called gaps.

You can adjust the gap size by using one of the following properties:

grid-column-gap
grid-row-gap
grid-gap

The grid-gap property is a shorthand property for the grid-column-gap and the grid-row-gapproperties:

.grid-container {
  display: grid;
  grid-gap: 50px 100px;
}

Grid Lines

The line between columns are called column lines.

The line between rows are called row lines.

Place a grid item at column line 1, and let it end on column line 3

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
.grid-container {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: auto auto auto;
  grid-gap: 10px;
  background-color: #2196F3;
  padding: 10px;
}

.grid-container > div {
  background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);
  text-align: center;
  padding: 20px 0;
  font-size: 30px;
}

.item1 {
  grid-column-start: 1;
  grid-column-end: 3;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>

<h1>Grid Lines</h1>

<div class="grid-container">
  <div class="item1">1</div>
  <div class="item2">2</div>
  <div class="item3">3</div>  
  <div class="item4">4</div>
  <div class="item5">5</div>
  <div class="item6">6</div>
  <div class="item7">7</div>
  <div class="item8">8</div>  
</div>

<p>You can refer to line numbers when placing grid items.</p>

</body>
</html>

Grid Container

To make an HTML element behave as a grid container, you have to set the display property to grid or inline-grid.

Grid containers consist of grid items, placed inside columns and rows

The grid-template-columns Property

The grid-template-columns property defines the number of columns in your grid layout, and it can define the width of each column.

The value is a space-separated-list, where each value defines the length of the respective column.

If you want your grid layout to contain 4 columns, specify the width of the 4 columns, or "auto" if all columns should have the same width.

.grid-container {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: auto auto auto auto;
}

The grid-template-columns property can also be used to specify the size (width) of the columns.

.grid-container {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: 80px 200px auto 40px;
}

The grid-template-rows Property

The grid-template-rows property defines the height of each row.

.grid-container {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-rows: 80px 200px;
}

The justify-content Property

The justify-content property is used to align the whole grid inside the container

.grid-container {
  display: grid;
  justify-content: space-evenly;
  justify-content: space-around;
  justify-content: space-between;
  justify-content: center;
  justify-content: end;
}

The align-content Property

The align-content property is used to vertically align the whole grid inside the container.

.grid-container {
  display: grid;
  align-content: space-evenly;
  align-content: space-around;
  align-content: space-between;
  align-content: center;
  align-content: start;
  align-content: end;
}

Child Elements (Items)

A grid container contains grid items.

By default, a container has one grid item for each column, in each row, but you can style the grid items so that they will span multiple columns and/or rows.

The grid-column Property:

The grid-column property defines on which column(s) to place an item.

You define where the item will start, and where the item will end.

Note: The grid-column property is a shorthand property for the grid-column-start and the grid-column-end properties.

Make "item1" start on line 1 and end on line 5:

.item1 {
  grid-column: 1 / 5;
}

Make "item1" start on column 1 and span 3 columns:

.item1 {
  grid-column: 1 / span 3;
}

Make "item2" start on column 2 and span 3 columns:

.item2 {
  grid-column: 2 / span 3;
}

The grid-row Property: the same grid-column

The grid-area Property

The grid-area property can be used as a shorthand property for the grid-row-start, grid-column-start, grid-row-end and the grid-column-end properties.

Make "item8" start on row-line 1 and column-line 2, and end on row-line 5 and column line 6:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
.grid-container {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: auto auto auto auto auto auto;
  grid-gap: 10px;
  background-color: #2196F3;
  padding: 10px;
}

.grid-container > div {
  background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);
  text-align: center;
  padding: 20px 0;
  font-size: 30px;
}

.item8 {
  grid-area: 1 / 2 / 5 / 6;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>

<h1>The grid-area Property</h1>

<p>You can use the <em>grid-area</em> property to specify where to place an item.</p>

<p>The syntax is:</p>
<p>grid-row-start / grid-column-start / grid-row-end / grid-column-end.</p>

<p>Item8 will start on row-line 1 and column-line 2, and end on row-line 5 column-line 6:</p>

<div class="grid-container">
  <div class="item1">1</div>
  <div class="item2">2</div>
  <div class="item3">3</div>  
  <div class="item4">4</div>
  <div class="item5">5</div>
  <div class="item6">6</div>
  <div class="item7">7</div>
  <div class="item8">8</div>  
  <div class="item9">9</div>
  <div class="item10">10</div>
  <div class="item11">11</div>
  <div class="item12">12</div>
  <div class="item13">13</div>
  <div class="item14">14</div>
  <div class="item15">15</div>
</div>

</body>
</html>

Make "item8" start on row-line 2 and column-line 1, and span 2 rows and 3 columns:

.item8 {
  grid-area: 2 / 1 / span 2 / span 3;
}

Naming Grid Items

The grid-area property can also be used to assign names to grid items.

Named grid items can be referred to by the grid-template-areas property of the grid container.

Item1 gets the name "myArea" and spans all five columns in a five columns grid layout:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
.item1 {
  grid-area: myArea;
}

.grid-container {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-areas: 'myArea myArea myArea myArea myArea';
  grid-gap: 10px;
  background-color: #2196F3;
  padding: 10px;
}

.grid-container > div {
  background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);
  text-align: center;
  padding: 20px 0;
  font-size: 30px;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>

<h1>The grid-area Property</h1>

<p>You can use the <em>grid-area</em> property to name grid items.</p>

<p>You can refer to the name when you set up the grid layout, by using the <em>grid-template-areas</em> property on the grid container.</p>

<p>Item1, is called "myArea" and will take up the place of all five columns:</p>

<div class="grid-container">
  <div class="item1">1</div>
  <div class="item2">2</div>
  <div class="item3">3</div>  
  <div class="item4">4</div>
  <div class="item5">5</div>
  <div class="item6">6</div>
</div>

</body>
</html>

To define two rows, define the column of the second row inside another set of apostrophes:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
.item1 {
  grid-area: myArea;
}

.grid-container {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-areas: 'myArea myArea . . .' 'myArea myArea . . .';
  grid-gap: 10px;
  background-color: #2196F3;
  padding: 10px;
}

.grid-container > div {
  background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);
  text-align: center;
  padding: 20px 0;
  font-size: 30px;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>

<h1>The grid-area Property</h1>

<p>You can use the <em>grid-area</em> property to name grid items.</p>

<p>You can refer to the name when you set up the grid layout, by using the <em>grid-template-areas</em> property on the grid container.</p>

<p>Item1, is called "myArea" and will take up the place of two columns (out of five), and will span two rows:</p>

<div class="grid-container">
  <div class="item1">1</div>
  <div class="item2">2</div>
  <div class="item3">3</div>  
  <div class="item4">4</div>
  <div class="item5">5</div>
  <div class="item6">6</div>
  <div class="item7">7</div>
</div>

</body>
</html>

.item1 { grid-area: header; }
.item2 { grid-area: menu; }
.item3 { grid-area: main; }
.item4 { grid-area: right; }
.item5 { grid-area: footer; }

.grid-container {
  grid-template-areas:
    'header header header header header header'
    'menu main main main right right'
    'menu footer footer footer footer footer';
}