Enhancing Responsiveness with Flexbox (CSS Conf EU 2015)

Flexbox Zoe Mickley Gillenwater @zomigi CSS Conf EU

September 2015

Enhancing

WITH Responsiveness

I work for

802,000+ properties�42 languages�54 currencies

Content extremes on Booking.com Shortest property name: 2 characters

Longest property name: 109 characters

How big do I make this thing?

%�em/rem�vw/vh

Relative units of measurement are your best guess at the

ideal, but they’re still a guess.

Flexbox gets us closer to the ideal, because it lets us design

without units.

Example: a responsive form from http://jobs.theguardian.com/

My copy of that form Same floats, same percentage widths

The trouble with explicit sizing Since the select and button are sized by a percentage, not sized automatically by their content, this can happen:

Box too small for its content Box too big for its content

Use the flex property instead Tells browser starting size (including content size) and whether item can grow or shrink

width: 33.333% flex: auto

Fill up remaining space

width: 16.666% flex: none

Size to content exactly

Form fields are a pain in the butt The fields and button don’t all match each other exactly in height

Fix alignment with flexbox Turn each field wrapper into flex container so field inside will stretch to match height of its line:

.flexbox .jobs-form_field-wrapper { display: flex; align-items: stretch; /* default */ width: auto; }

Fields misaligned without flexbox Fields match height due to align-items

Smarter sizing

Non-flexbox

Flexbox enhanced

Content-driven breakpoints aren’t perfect.

Automatic breakpoint with flexbox Booking’s responsive customer service form doesn’t use any media queries

http://www.booking.com/content/cs.html

All of the CSS for those 2 layouts form.cs-message { display: flex; flex-flow: row wrap; margin-right: -10px; } input.cs-message__text { flex: 1 0 40%; width: 43%; /* fallback */ float: left; /* fallback */ margin-right: 10px; padding: 8px 10px; }

1 property creates 2 responsive layouts, both always full width

Layout change without media query 1.  Let the fields wrap when needed:

form.cs-message { display: flex; flex-direction: row; flex-wrap: wrap; margin-right: -10px; }

/* default */

Layout change without media query 2.  Size the fields to control their wrapping

point: input.cs-message__text { flex: 1 0 40%; width: 43%; /* fallback */ float: left; /* fallback */ margin-right: 10px; padding: 8px 10px; }

Defining the flex property Makes flex items change their main size (width or height) to fit available space

Defining the flex property

flex-grow how much flex item will grow relative to other items if extra space is available (proportion of extra space that it gets)

flex-shrink how much item will shrink relative to others if there is not enough space (proportion of overflow that gets shaved off)

flex-basis the initial starting size before free space is distributed (any standard width/height value, including auto)

Breaking down the flex property input.cs-message__text { flex: 1 0 40%; width: 43%; float: left; margin-right: 10px; padding: 8px 10px; }

flex-basis = 40% start field at 40% wide

flex-shrink = 0 don’t shrink smaller than starting width

flex-grow = 1 give it 1 share of any extra width on its line

In other words…

input.cs-message__text { flex: 1 0 40%; width: 43%; float: left; margin-right: 10px; padding: 8px 10px; }

Not enough space for 2 40% wide items plus their pixel margin and padding, so only 1 allowed per line, which then stretches wider than 40% to fill its line

Enough space for 2 per line, which both stretch equally as needed to fill

Taking advantage of variable space Task: add a message about low availability of the room price shown: “We have only X left on our site!”

How about right here in this lovely big gap?

Taking advantage of variable space Problem: the gap is not always big enough to hold a sentence of text

Taking advantage of variable space Solution: use flexbox to place text beside price when space allows; otherwise, it can wrap below price

Taking advantage of variable space Non-flexbox Flexbox enhanced

Improved wrapping Non-flexbox Flexbox enhanced

Flexbox with float fallback .iw_mini_details_wrapper { display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; justify-content: space-between; align-items: baseline; } .iw_mini_review_score_wrapper { float: left; } .iw_mini_price_wrapper { float: right; }

Flexbox properties on container override floating automatically in supporting browsers

Floating gets used by old browsers

Improved wrapping in RWD layout 34

flex: 1 1 auto

align-content: space-between

Improved wrapping in RWD layout With float or text-align With flex or justify-content

Flexbox is great for aligning stuff, especially shifting

content in RWD.

Demo: full-width nav bar ¨  All links on same line ¨  First link flush left, last link flush right ¨  Equal spaces between all links

Trying display:table-cell J All links on same line J First link flush left, last link flush right L Equal spaces between all links

Spacing with table-layout:fixed

Starter centered nav bar Without flexbox: .list-nav { margin: 0; padding: 0;

list-style: none; text-align: center; } .list-nav li { display: inline-block;

padding: 0 .5em; text-align: center; } .list-nav li:first-child { padding-left: 0; }

.list-nav li:last-child { padding-right: 0; }

Enhanced to be full-width .list-nav { display: flex; justify-content: space-between; margin: 0; padding: 0;

list-style: none; text-align: center; /* fallback */ } .list-nav li { display: inline-block; /* fallback */

padding: 0 .5em; /* fallback */ text-align: center; } .list-nav li:first-child { padding-left: 0; } .list-nav li:last-child { padding-right: 0; }

Combine with inline-block

Non-flexbox fallback version

Flexbox version

Improve the wide layout Wide: too stretched out

A more responsive enhancement

Wide variation: two-piece main nav 1.  Add media query for wide width:

@media (min-width:860px) { }

2.  Add link to Modernizr: <script src="js/modernizr.js"></script>

<html class="flexbox">

Supporting browsers:

<html class="no-flexbox">

Non-supporting browsers:

Add Modernizr as needed with flexbox Flexbox and fallback styles can often co-exist, but sometimes need to isolate them

http://zomigi.com/blog/using-modernizr-with-flexbox/

Or use @supports .gallery-item { display: inline-block; } @supports (flex-wrap: wrap) { .gallery { display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; } }

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/@supports

Wide variation: two-piece main nav

3.  Move nav bar up to overlap logo’s line: @media (min-width:860px) { .flexbox .list-nav { position: relative; top: -70px; } }

Wide variation: two-piece main nav

4.  Add margins to control extra space in line: .flexbox .link-party { margin-left: auto; } .flexbox .link-home { margin-right: 15px; } .flexbox .link-tumblr { margin-left: 15px; }

(margin)

A more responsive nav bar

This works vertically too.

Demo: full-height stacked icons

.wrapper

.ico

ns

.content

Demo: full-height stacked icons 1.  Turn children .icons and .content into

side-by-side, equal-height flex items .wrapper { display: flex; align-items: stretch; /* default */ }

Only children become flex items

So these 2 children are the flex items

This is the flex container

These 3 grandchildren aren’t flex items (yet)

Demo: full-height stacked icons 2.  Turn .icons into flex container with

vertically stacked children (the 3 icons): .icons { display: flex; flex-direction: column; /* main axis */ }

Demo: full-height stacked icons 3.  Equally space the 3 icons along the vertical

main axis: .icons { display: flex; flex-direction: column; justify-content: space-between; }

Demo: full-height stacked icons

Fallback alignment options Top-aligned (float) Centered (table-cell)

These examples don’t look wrong or broken without flexbox. �

�Flexbox just enhances their sizing

and spacing to look better.

Flexbox can also enhance visual ordering.

Remember this?

.flexbox .list-nav { position: relative; top: -70px; }

.flexbox .link-party { margin-left: auto; } .flexbox .link-home { margin-right: 15px; } .flexbox .link-tumblr { margin-left: 15px; }

Nav overlaps logo’s line, so link text could overlap logo if viewport too narrow or text too big

order integer to specify flow order of flex items

0 0 0 default source order 0 0

1 0 0 re-ordered 0 0

0 0 -1 re-ordered 0 0

2 1 0 re-ordered 1 0

Use order property to move logo

1.  Divide nav bar into order groups: .link-home, .link-builder {

order: 0; /* default, and first here */ } .logo {

order: 1; /* second */ } .link-party, .link-tumblr {

order: 2; /* last */ }

(margin)

Use order property to move logo

2.  Split extra space on line to center logo: .logo { margin-left: auto;

} .link-party { margin-left: auto;

}

Order only works on siblings To move logo to middle of list, it needs to be part of list <div class="logo"><img src="images/logo.png"></div>

<ul class="list-nav"> <li class="logo"><img src="images/logo.png"></li> <li class="link-home"><a>home</a></li> <li class="link-builder"><a>s'mores builder</a></li> <li class="link-party"><a>throw a party</a></li> <li class="link-tumblr"><a>tumblr</a></li> </ul>

Reorder for good, not evil.

Demo: moving a photo on mobile

Demo: moving a photo on mobile Desktop: HTML order (no flexbox) Mobile: reordered

Use flexbox order in mobile styles .recipe { display: flex; flex-direction: column; } .recipe figure { order: -1; /* before all items with default order: 0 */ } .recipe figure img { width: 100%; }

Inspired by Jonathan Cutrell’s example at http://webdesign.tutsplus.com/ tutorials/tricks-with-flexbox-for-better-css-patterns--cms-19449

Turn off flexbox in desktop styles @media screen and (min-width:800px) { .recipe { display: block; /* turn off flexbox */ } .recipe figure { float: right; width: 55%; } }

Demo: moving a photo on mobile Flexbox enhanced Non-flexbox

Reordering on The Guardian

1 2 3

4 5 6

flex-direction: row-reverse

flex-direction: row-reverse

1

2

3

4

5

6

Flexbox requires a mental shift in how you think about and

approach layout.

RWD is not binary.�Responsiveness is a continuum.�

�Flexbox can help make your site

more responsive.

Flexbox is not all nothing

or

Thanks!

Zoe Mickley Gillenwater @zomigi [email protected] zomigi.com | stunningcss3.com | flexiblewebbook.com

Photo credits: “Currywurst mit Pommes” by Jessica Spengler and “lecker war’s” by Mike Herbst on Flickr.