The Future of CSS Layout

The Future of CSS LayoutOctober 22, 2012 by Zoe Mickley GillenwaterFuture of Web Design @zomigi zomigi.com

What I do Books Web Stunning CSS3: Accessibility A Project-based Guide to specialist at AT&T the Latest in CSS Visual designer www.stunningcss3.com CSS developer and consultant Flexible Web Design: Creating Liquid and Elastic Layouts with CSS www.flexiblewebbook.com 2

the pasttable layout 3

Problems with table layout• Complicated/bulky markup• Accessibility problems• Slower browser rendering• Rigid designs• Spacer gifs 4

the present float layout 5

Advantages of floats in layout• Less HTML than tables• More flexibility to change layout than tables• Can change visual order to not match HTML (somewhat)• Other content aware of floats presence• Can use clear to get blocks out of the way 6

Problems with float layout• Visual location tied to HTML order (somewhat)• Wrapping/float drop• Difficulty with containment• Difficulty with equal-height columns• No float:center 7

? what are thealternatives 8

Alternative: display inline-block      ** only partial support in IE 7 and 6 9

I wish my parentswould stop treating me like I’m inline.Can’t they see I’m a block now? 10

Use: centered nav barnav ul { margin: 0; padding: 0; border-bottom: 3px solid #fff; list-style: none; text-align: center; }nav li { display: inline-block; vertical-align: bottom; margin: 0 .2em; padding: .3em .5em; ... } 11

Use: centered nav bar• List horizontally centered• Links aligned on bottom• Links have top and bottom padding• Links can be different heights• List contains links (see its bottom border) 12

Alternative: display table-cell      ** only in IE 8 and later 13

How table display works• Makes boxes act like table equivalents • Example: boxes with display:table-cell act like <td> and sit on same line• Good for grid-like layouts• Disadvantage: tied to HTML order 14

Use: hybrid fixed-fluid layoutsection { display: table; table-layout: fixed; width: 100%; }article { display: table-cell; padding: 10px; vertical-align: top; }article.fixed { width:250px; } 15

Use: hybrid fixed-fluid layout 16

the futurea whole bunch of CSS3 17

CSS3 “content-flow” modules• Multi-column Layout: flow a box’s content into multiple columns in that box• Regions: flow content into multiple, separate boxes• Exclusions and Shapes: make content flow around and within areas in more intricate ways than floating 18

Grid Template Layouthttp://dev.w3.org/csswg/css3-layout/ X X X X 10 ** with -ms- prefix 19

How grid template worksDefine invisible grid of rows and columnsand specify which pieces of content go intowhich “slot”body { grid: "a a a a" a "b c c d"}  b c dnav { flow: a }#main { flow: c }aside { flow: d }#news { flow: b } 20

How grid template worksDefine invisible grid of rows and columnsand specify which pieces of content go intowhich “slot”body { grid: "c d" c d "b b" "a a" } bnav { flow: a }#main { flow: c }aside { flow: d }#news { flow: b } a 21

How grid template worksUse ::slot to style slots with:• overflow • background properties• margin properties • column properties• padding properties • vertical-align• border properties • writing-mode• box-shadow • direction• box-decoration-breakFor example: body::slot(c) { background: #7FD13B; vertical-align: top; } 22

Flexible Box Layoutwww.w3.org/TR/css3-flexbox/ 21 X 12.1 X X † **† with -webkit- prefix can be switched on in version 18 nightlies 23

How flexbox works• Make boxes automatically grow to fill space or shrink to avoid overflow• Give boxes proportional measurements• Lay out boxes in any direction• Align boxes on any side• Place boxes out of order from HTML 24

Let’s tryflexboxout onthis page 25

Original CSS.feature { float: left; width: 30%; margin: 0 4.5% 0 0; padding: 130px 0 0 0;} 26

Create a flex container<div id="features-wrapper"> <div class="feature" id="feature-candy"> ...</div> <div class="feature" id="feature-pastry"> ...</div> <div class="feature" id="feature-dessert"> ...</div></div> Make sure to add the#features-wrapper { -moz, -ms, and -webkit prefixed values and display: flex; properties in real life!} 27

Specify direction of flex items#features-wrapper { display: flex; flex-direction: row; default value}Could switch to vertical stacking in mobile/narrow-screenmedia query:#features-wrapper { display: flex; flex-direction: column;} 28

Make flex items flexible.feature { flex: 1 1 0px; margin-right: 40px; padding: 130px 0 0 0; } 29

Make flex items flexible.feature { flex: 1 1 0px; margin-right: 40px; flex basis padding: 130px 0 0 0; } flex shrink factorSame as: flex grow factor.feature { flex: 1; margin-right: 40px; padding: 130px 0 0 0; } 30

Add a fourth feature box<div id="features-wrapper"> <div class="feature" id="feature-candy"> ...</div> <div class="feature" id="feature-pastry"> ...</div> <div class="feature" id="feature-dessert"> ...</div> <div class="feature" id="feature-bread"> ...</div></div> 31

All boxes adjust in width 32

Don’t need to do this anymore.2up .feature { width: 45%; ... }.3up .feature { width: 30%; ... }.4up .feature { width: 22%; ... } 33

Highlight a sale category.sale { padding: 130px 20px 20px 20px; border-radius: 3px; background-color: hsla(0,0%,100%,.4);}What percentage width would I set to makethis twice as wide as other boxes, if I weren’tusing flex? 34

Make sale box twice as wide.sale { flex: 2; padding: 130px 20px 20px 20px; border-radius: 3px; background-color: hsla(0,0%,100%,.4);} 35

Default equal-height columns!#features-wrapper { display: flex; align-items: stretch;}This is the default value, so we don’t need toactually set this property, but this shows youwhat it looks like. 36

Vertical centering with ease!#features-wrapper { display: flex; align-items: center;} 37

Visual order = HTML order 38

Move sale box to front of line.sale { order: -1; flex: 2; padding: 130px 20px 20px 20px; border-radius: 3px; background-color: hsla(0,0%,100%,.4);}Default order value is 0 for all flex items, so-1 moves this one before others 39

New visual order, same HTML 40

Accessibility implications• Pro: keep content in logical order in HTML instead of structuring HTML to achieve visual layout• Con: focus/tab order won’t always match expected order, may jump around seemingly randomly 41

Columns are too narrow 42

Create multi-line flex container#features-wrapper { display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; Allow children flex items to wrap to multiple lines}.sale { order: -1; Make box fill line flex: 1 1 100%; Remove gap to right, margin: 0 0 20px 0; add space below padding: 130px 20px 20px 20px; border-radius: 3px; background-color: hsla(0,0%,100%,.4);} 43

Flex items can now wrap 44

Change icon position.sale { order: -1; flex: 1 1 100%; margin: 0 0 20px 0; padding: 20px 20px 1px 170px; border-radius: 3px; background-color: hsla(0,0%,100%,.4); background-position: 20px 0;} 45

Final layout 46

use flexbox now forprogressive enhancement  47

How can I make this form:• Display on a single line with image• Vertically centered with image• Span full-width of container 48

Inline-block achieves:Display on a single line with imageVertically centered with imageX Span full-width of container 49

Different units make life hard Pixels Ems Some mystery percentage 50

Make the text input flex#order, #order form { Make outer div and form display: flex; into flex containers align-items: center; } Vertically center kiddos#order form { Make form take up all flex: 1; } space next to image#order #message { Make text input take up flex: 1; all space in form left min-width: 7em; after label and button margin: 0 5px; } But don’t let it get crazy- small 51

Use inline-block with flexbox 52

Use inline-block with flexbox#order img, #order form { display: inline-block; vertical-align: middle; }#order, #order form { display: flex; align-items: center; }#order form { flex: 1; }#order #message { flex: 1; min-width: 7em; margin: 0 5px; } 53

Full-width nav barnav ul { nav li { display: table; display: table-cell; width: 100%; text-align: center; } margin: 0; padding: 0; list-style: none; } 54

Not so hot with no backgrounds Uneven spacing Don’t like these gaps 55

Even spacing with flexboxnav ul { display: flex; justify-content: space-between; margin: 0; padding: 0; list-style: none; } 56

Use inline-block with flexbox 57

Use inline-block with flexboxnav ul { display: flex; justify-content: space-between; margin: 0; padding: 0; list-style: none; text-align: center;}nav li { display: inline-block;} 58

Or use Modernizr scripthttp://modernizr.comnav ul { nav li { display: table; display: table-cell; width: 100%; } margin: 0; .flexbox nav li { padding: 0; display: list-item; list-style: none; }}.flexbox nav ul { display: flex;} 59

go forth andpractice  60

Learn moreDownload slides and get links athttp://zomigi.com/blog/future-css-layout-fowdZoe Mickley Gillenwater@zomigidesign@zomigi.comzomigi.com | stunningcss3.com | flexiblewebbook.comTitle photo by Gilderic Photography (http://www.flickr.com/photos/gilderic/6885830288/)Rocket designed by Jason Peters from The Noun Project 61

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The Future of CSS Layout

by Zoe Gillenwater on Oct 22, 2012

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