Web I - 07 - CSS Frameworks

EASING
INTO WEB
DEVELOPMENT
7.
7 CSS FRAMEWORKS

1 INTRODUCTION
2 HTML
3 TABLES
4 FORMS
5 HTTP
6 CSS
7 CSS FRAMEWORKS
8 DIGITAL MEDIA
2 9 USABILITY

The Problem with CSS
 Most web design is based around two-dimensional
(2D) grids.
 Unfortunately, CSS was not designed to describe 2D
grids.
 Rather, CSS assumes that every page will be made up
of a vertical stack of blocks, piled one on top of
another.

Rachek Andrew & Kevin Yank, Everything you know about CSS is wrong (Sitepoint, 2008).

1D 2D
1-D vs 2-D Layouts


CSS Layout Techniques
 In d t
I order to coerce a vertical stack of block elements into a
ti l t k f bl k l t i t
grid-like layout, designers have used absolute positioning or
floating to force blocks to sit alongside each other.
 Problems
 Complex!!
 Browser compatibility
B ibili
 Clearing floats
 Footers
 Faux columns required
 Nesting columns is very tricky
 Source order
S d
 In other words, CSS layouts are a total hack!

Layout Using Tables
 That is why HTML tables seem to be such a
“natural” way of doing layout.
 It is similar to the way traditional print design works
(i.e., using grids)

http://www.savorthesuccess.com
http://www.ideabook.com/tutorials/

CSS Table Layout Mode
 We can achieve 2D layouts without the complexity
of positioning and floats using CSS Table Layout
Mode.
 Only works in modern browsers that support CSS 2.1
(IE8, FF 3, Safari 4, Chrome).

CSS Table Layout Mode
<div id= wrapper >
<div id="wrapper">
<div id="header">
⋮ header content…
</div>
<div id="main">
<div id="nav">
⋮ navigation column content…
navigation column content…
</div>
<div id="extras">
⋮ news headlines column content…
</div>
<div id="content">
⋮ main article content…
</div>
</div>
</div>

#main { display: table;
p p ; }
border‐collapse: collapse; }
#nav { display: table‐cell;
width: 180px;
background‐color: #e7dbcd; }
#extras { display: table‐cell;
width: 180px;
padding‐left: 10px;
padding left: 10px;
border‐right: 1px dotted #d7ad7b; }
#content { display: table‐cell;
width: 380px;
padding‐left: 10px; }


Aren t
Aren’t Tables for Layout Pure Evil?
 Using HTML tables for layout is wrong
 Here we are using CSS table display mode to
g p y
describe how to display/present content.
 Using CSS to describe presentation is pure goodness!

Why aren’t we using this?
aren t
 Still too many people using IE7 and below.
 Perhaps by 2013 we will all be able to use CSS table
layout.

http://stats.wikimedia.org/wikimedia/squids/SquidReportClients.htm

CSS 3 Grids
 CSS 3 h another table-less solution to grid layout
has h bl l l i id l
called grid positioning that will be even more
p
powerful.
 Currently only support in FF 3.5, Safari 4, Chrome

body {
grid‐columns: 10em,1em,10em,1em,10em,1em,10em,1em,10em,1em,10em, 1em,10em;
}

#promo {
position: absolute;
left: 1gr;
width: 4gr;
width: 4gr;
}


Why Grids?
 Closer in approach to print-design.
 Grids are an easy way of achieving design
y y g g
consistency.

http://www.w3.org/TR/css3‐grid

CSS Frameworks to the Rescue
 While IE 6+7 still has a non-trivial marketshare, we
can use CSS Frameworks as a way to more easily
create complex CSS-based layouts.
 Still
use the hacks of floats and positioning, but
 someone else has done all the hard work for you.

Common CSS Frameworks
 960 G id System
Grid S t
 Developers construct layouts using a grid system based on a fixed width
of 960 pixels.
 There are two variants: 12 and 16 columns.
6
 Blueprint
 Originally a Google project.
g y g p j
 Uses a grid of 24 columns, 950px fixed width.
 YUI Grids
 A Y h project. D
Yahoo j t Doesn’t use grid metaphor.
’t id t h
 Supports fluid-width (100%) layouts as well as preset fixed-width
layouts at 750px, 950px, and 974px.
 Six
S preset templates, and the ability to stack and nest subdivided
l d h bl k d bd d d
regions of two, three, or four columns.
 There are dozens of others.

Drawbacks to CSS Frameworks

 Typically limited to fixed sizes provided by
framework.
 Ultimately, you are adding presentation back into
y
your markup.p
 E.g.,if fixed width of 960 pixels and you have the
following markup: <div class span 4 then really
div class=“span-4”>
not much difference from the old table layout (except
p)
less markup).

Why 950px, 960px, or 974px?

960 is evenly divisible by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, 16, 20, 24, 30,
32, 40, 48, 60, 64, 80, 96, 120, 160, 192, 240, 320 and 480.
(i.e.,
(i e many grid possibilities)
possibilities).

http://www.subtraction.com/pics/0703/grids_are_good.pdf

Grid Examples

http://www.subtraction.com/pics/0703/grids_are_good.pdf

Examples
<link rel="stylesheet" href="css/reset.css" />
<link rel="stylesheet" href="css/text.css" /> 960 Grid CSS files http://960.gs/
<link rel="stylesheet" href="css/960.css" />

<div class="container_12"> Indicates 12 column grid

<div class="grid_12"><p>940px</p></div> First row will span 12 grids
<div class="clear"></div> Each row must be terminated with this clear !!

<div class="grid_6"><p>460px</p></div> Second row contains 2 divs that each span 6 grids
<div class="grid_6"><p>460px</p></div>
<div class="clear"></div> Each row must be terminated with this clear !!
</div>

How many grid columns?

Notice that content can “spill” into gutters

grid_12 How many rows?

grid_4 grid_5 grid_3

grid_4 grid_8

What about this?

grid_12

Nested Rows
<div class="container_12">
…

<div class="grid_4">
<h3>More Information</h3>
…

</div>

grid_4 grid_8 <h2>Welcome to Airfeed</h2>
…
First grid in nested row marked with alpha
Last grid in nested row marked with omega
<div class="grid_2 alpha">
…
</div>
# of grids in nested row = # grids in parent <div class="grid_2">
2+2+2+2 = 8 …
</div>
grid_2 grid_2 grid_2 grid_2
…
</div>
<div class="grid_2 omega">
…
</div>

grid_4 grid_4 <div class="grid_4 alpha">
…
</div>

…
</div>

</div>
<div class="grid_3 alpha">
…
/di
</div>
grid_12
grid_3 grid_9 …
</div>
</div>
</div>

grid_4 grid_5 grid_3

grid_4 grid_8

grid_2 grid_2 grid_2 grid_2

grid_4 grid_4

grid_12
grid_3 grid_9

Web I - 07 - CSS Frameworks

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