With solidified syntax and great browser support, flexbox, the CSS layout module that can make your layouts more flexible and responsive with ease, is finally ready to be used in your real-world work. We’ll talk about the when, what, and how of using flexbox today: when it’s a great choice use flexbox (and when not to), what UI and UX problems it can help you solve, and how to add it to your layouts in a robust way that doesn’t harm non-supporting browsers or accessibility. You’ll learn a step-by-step process for deciding on and deploying flexbox, with lots of examples along the way of flexbox in the wild.
8. What browsers do I need to
support?
Don’t ask yourself this—it’s irrelevant here
(IMO)
9. Flexbox has 96.8% coverage worldwide
We support IE 7-9 at Booking, but still use flexbox as
progressive enhancement.
10. Do I want to create a layout in
1 dimension (row OR column)
or 2 dimensions?
Hat-tip to Rachel Andrew:
https://rachelandrew.co.uk/archives/2016/03/30/should-i-use-grid-or-flexbox/
11. Flexbox is not a grid
¨ Not meant for or great at whole page layout
¨ Flex items only care about space in their
own row/column
¨ They don’t care about lining up in the other
dimension
12. Demo by Rachel Andrew: http://codepen.io/rachelandrew/pen/YqqdXL
13. Flexbox is best for:
¨ UI components
¨ Simple whole page layouts (not grid-based)
¨ Enhancing a complex layout’s alignment,
spacing, etc. (not controlling placement)
14.
15. Do I need my content to
dictate sizing and placement,
or do I need to control these?
16. Content determines
boxes’ size and
placement
(Mega-useful when
content is unknown and
variable, or readability is
a top priority.)
Structure determines
content’s size and
placement
(P.S. Flexbox can do this
too, if you want. It’s just
the reverse that doesn’t
work so well.)
Flexbox Grids
17. Does flexbox offer me anything
I can’t already get
from an existing layout method?
18. New things flexbox offers
¨ Content-driven, unit-less sizes
¨ Content-driven, media-query-less layout changes
¨ Mixed-unit layouts
¨ Equal-height columns
¨ Vertical centering and other alignments
¨ Spacing out or stretching items to fill unknown width/height
¨ Combining content wrapping and block wrapping
¨ Pinning items without overlaps
¨ Visual order different than HTML/reading order
28. Translating the flex property
.sb-dates {
display: flex;
}
.sb-dates__icon {
flex: 0 0 23px;
}
.sb-dates__select-day {
flex: 1 0 auto;
margin: 0 6px;
}
.sb-dates__select-month {
flex: 1 1 auto;
}
Start out 23px wide, and don’t grow
or shrink further
Start out sized to your content, then
grow with 1 share of any extra space
available, but don’t ever shrink
Start out sized to your content, then
grow with 1 share of extra space, but
if there’s an overflow shrink
29. Mixed-unit layout is easier with
calc(), but not even it can do:
calc(100% - 23px - the width of
the day field in Greek)
30. 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?
31. Taking advantage of variable space
Problem: the gap
is not always big
enough to hold a
sentence of text
32. Taking advantage of variable space
Solution: use flexbox to place text beside
price when space allows; otherwise, it can
wrap below price and stretch
Not possible with floats, inline-block
Not possible with table-cell
35. Layout change without media query
1. Let the blocks wrap and stack when needed:
.article-header {
display: flex;
flex-direction: row;
flex-wrap: wrap;
}
/* default */
36. Switching between columns and rows
flex-direction: column
or
flex-direction: row
flex-wrap: wrap
(or the shorthand
flex-flow: row wrap)
@media min-width...
flex-direction: row
1 column when narrow Multiple rows when wide
Same, no change needed
37. Layout change without media query
2. Size the blocks to control their wrapping
point:
.article-header-image {
flex: 1 1 320px;
padding-left: 20px;
}
.article-header-text {
flex: 1 1 20em;
padding-left: 20px;
}
< 100% = 1 row, 2 columns
> 100% = wrap to 2 rows
38. Stretching to fill unknown width/height
flex: 1 1 auto
align-content:
space-between
39. Improved wrapping in RWD layout
With float or text-align With flex or justify-content
40. Flexbox is great for spacing
and aligning stuff, especially
shifting content in RWD.
60. Browser support approaches to choose
¨ Use only the non-prefixed, standard syntax
¨ … plus browser-prefixed versions of
standard syntax
¨ … plus -ms- prefixed 2011/2012 syntax
¨ … plus -webkit- prefixed 2009 syntax
http://caniuse.com/#feat=flexbox
61. I recommend you skip the ‘09 syntax
¨ It’s slower to render than current syntax*
¨ Doesn’t support wrapping
¨ Its browsers have small market share
¨ If using flexbox for progressive
enhancement, its browsers can get same
fallback given to non-supporting browsers
* http://updates.html5rocks.com/2013/10/Flexbox-layout-isn-t-slow
62. Let tools add browser variants for you
Which variants do you want? Best tool to handle that
All the things! Autoprefixer
Bourbon (Sass)
Only the standard syntax,
with and without prefixes
Compass (Sass)
Some other combination
(such as everything except 2009)
Sass or LESS mixins, such as
https://github.com/mastastealth/
sass-flex-mixin
63. 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/
64. 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
But IE 10-11, which do
support flexbox but
don’t support
@supports, won’t get
these styles
66. Things to consider
Do I need content blocks to wrap? not table-cell
Do I want to prevent blocks from wrapping? floats, inline-block, but
table-cell best
Do I need content-driven sizes? floats, but table-cell or
inline-block best
Do I need vertical alignment? inline-block, table-cell
Do I need horizontal alignment? floats, table-cell, inline-
block only with preset
sizes
67. Pick your starter layout CSS
¨ Floats
¨ table-cell
¨ inline-block
¨ Absolute positioning
Flexbox will override: Flexbox will not override:
Just use whatever you normally would;
flexbox plays nicely with most of them.
69. Split left-right layout
Task: lay out review score
and price, on opposite
sides of same line
Needs:
¨ content-driven sizing
¨ horizontal alignment
¨ wrapping
score price or
“sold out”
73. Creating the block flex container
.iw_mini_details_wrapper {
display: flex;
}
.iw_mini_review_score_wrapper {
float: left;
}
.iw_mini_price_wrapper {
float: right;
}
Flex container sits
on a new row below,
like a block element
75. Things to consider
Lay out horizontally or vertically? flex-direction:row or
column
Allow boxes to wrap? flex-wrap:wrap,
wrap-reverse or nowrap
Order different than source? order values;
flex-direction:
row-reverse or
column-reverse
77. Decide which items can
grow to fill space,
shrink to avoid overflow,
or must stay at a certain size
78. Tips for setting flex values
¨ Write out full flex values, rather than
using single-digit and keyword values
¤ flex: 1 1 0% instead of flex: 1
¤ Hidden default values can lead to mistakes
¤ Avoids IE 10-11 bugs
¨ Think about it backwards: first decide
flex-basis, then -shrink, then -grow
79. Tips for setting flex-basis values
¨ Acts like min-width when wrapping on
¨ If flex-wrap off and flex-shrink on,
browser can go smaller than flex-basis
¨ Be careful with flex-basis:0 when
wrapping
¨ Use flex-basis:auto whenever possible
84. Main axis alignment
(horizontal when row,
vertical when column)
Cross axis alignment
(vertical when row,
horizontal when column)
(P.S. Also responsible for
equal-height columns)
justify-content align-items
85. Controlling alignment
.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;
}
Moves first item to left,
last item to right
89. Testing your flexbox
¨ If using Modernizr: Too Flexy bookmarklet
for toggling Modernizr flexbox classes:
http://chriswrightdesign.github.io/tooflexy/
¨ If reordering: check tabbing and screen
reading order to make sure it’s still logical
91. Fixing browsers’ flexbox bugs
¨ Read explanations and workarounds by
Philip Walton:
https://github.com/philipwalton/flexbugs
¨ Let PostCSS fix some for you:
https://github.com/luisrudge/postcss-flexbugs-fixes
92. Summing up the process
1. Decide whether to use flexbox and which browser
versions of it
2. Choose and add starter layout CSS
3. Choose and add flexbox CSS
1. Block or inline-block container
2. Flow
3. Flex to control sizing
4. Alignment
4. Test and fix bugs
93. Flexbox is not for the future.
You can use flexbox today.