CSS Flexbox
CSS Flex Items
Child Elements (Items)
The direct child elements
of a flex container automatically becomes flexible (flex) items.
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The element above
represents four blue flex items inside a grey flex container.
Example
<div class="flex-container">
<div>1</div>
<div>2</div>
<div>3</div>
<div>4</div>
</div>
The flex item properties
are:
- order
- flex-grow
- flex-shrink
- flex-basis
- flex
- align-self
The order Property
The order property
specifies the order of the flex items.
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The first flex item in the
code does not have to appear as the first item in the layout.
The order value must be a
number, default value is 0.
Example
The order property
can change the order of the flex items:
<div class="flex-container">
<div style="order: 3">1</div>
<div style="order: 2">2</div>
<div style="order: 4">3</div>
<div style="order: 1">4</div>
</div>
The flex-grow Property
The flex-grow property
specifies how much a flex item will grow relative to the rest of the flex
items.
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The value must be a number,
default value is 0.
Example
Make the
third flex item grow eight times faster than the other flex items:
<div class="flex-container">
<div style="flex-grow: 1">1</div>
<div style="flex-grow: 1">2</div>
<div style="flex-grow: 8">3</div>
</div>
The flex-shrink Property
The flex-shrink property
specifies how much a flex item will shrink relative to the rest of the flex
items.
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The value must be a number,
default value is 1.
Example
Do not
let the third flex item shrink as much as the other flex items:
<div class="flex-container">
<div>1</div>
<div>2</div>
<div style="flex-shrink: 0">3</div>
<div>4</div>
<div>5</div>
<div>6</div>
<div>7</div>
<div>8</div>
<div>9</div>
<div>10</div>
</div>
The flex-basis Property
The flex-basis property
specifies the initial length of a flex item.
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Example
Set the
initial length of the third flex item to 200 pixels:
<div class="flex-container">
<div>1</div>
<div>2</div>
<div style="flex-basis: 200px">3</div>
<div>4</div>
</div>
The flex Property
The flex property
is a shorthand property for the flex-grow, flex-shrink,
and flex-basis properties.
Example
Make the
third flex item not growable (0), not shrinkable (0), and with an initial
length of 200 pixels:
<div class="flex-container">
<div>1</div>
<div>2</div>
<div style="flex: 0 0 200px">3</div>
<div>4</div>
</div>
The align-self Property
The align-self property
specifies the alignment for the selected item inside the flexible container.
The align-self property
overrides the default alignment set by the container's align-items property.
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In these examples we use a
200 pixels high container, to better demonstrate the align-self property:
Example
Align the
third flex item in the middle of the container:
<div class="flex-container">
<div>1</div>
<div>2</div>
<div style="align-self: center">3</div>
<div>4</div>
</div>
Example
Align the
second flex item at the top of the container, and the third flex item at the
bottom of the container:
<div class="flex-container">
<div>1</div>
<div style="align-self: flex-start">2</div>
<div style="align-self: flex-end">3</div>
<div>4</div>
</div>
The CSS Flexbox Items Properties
The following table lists
all the CSS Flexbox Items properties:
|
Property |
Description |
|
align-self |
Specifies the alignment
for a flex item (overrides the flex container's align-items property) |
|
flex |
A shorthand property for
the flex-grow, flex-shrink, and the flex-basis properties |
|
flex-basis |
Specifies the initial
length of a flex item |
|
flex-grow |
Specifies how much a flex
item will grow relative to the rest of the flex items inside the same
container |
|
flex-shrink |
Specifies how much a flex
item will shrink relative to the rest of the flex items inside the same
container |
|
order |
Specifies the order of
the flex items inside the same container |
CSS Flex Responsive
Responsive Flexbox
You learned from the CSS Media Queries chapter that you
can use media queries to create different layouts for different screen sizes
and devices.
Laptop and Desktops:
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Mobile and
Tablets:
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For example, if you want to create a two-column layout for most
screen sizes, and a one-column layout for small screen sizes (such as phones
and tablets), you can change the flex-direction from row to column at
a specific breakpoint (800px in the example below):
Example
.flex-container {
display: flex;
flex-direction: row;
}
/* Responsive layout - makes a one column
layout instead of a two-column layout */
@media (max-width: 800px) {
.flex-container {
flex-direction: column;
}
}
Another way is to change the percentage of the flex property
of the flex items to create different layouts for different screen sizes. Note
that we also have to include flex-wrap: wrap; on
the flex container for this example to work:
Example
.flex-container {
display: flex;
flex-wrap: wrap;
}
.flex-item-left {
flex: 50%;
}
.flex-item-right {
flex: 50%;
}
/* Responsive layout - makes a one column
layout instead of a two-column layout */
@media (max-width: 800px) {
.flex-item-right, .flex-item-left {
flex: 100%;
}
}
