build/posts/width-vs-flex-basis/index.html


1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
	<meta charset="utf-8">
	<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
	<meta name="color-scheme" content="dark light">
	<link rel="icon" href="data:,">
	<title>Width or Flex-Basis?</title>
	<link href="/atom.xml" type="application/atom+xml" rel="alternate" title="Atom feed for blog posts" />
	<link href="/rss.xml" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate" title="RSS feed for blog posts" />
<style>*{box-sizing:border-box;}body{font-family:sans-serif;line-height:1.33;margin:0 auto;max-width:650px;padding:1rem;}blockquote{background:rgba(0,0,0,0.1);border-left:4px solid;padding-left:5px;}img{max-width:100%;}pre{border:1px solid;overflow:auto;padding:5px;}table{text-align:left;width:100%;}.footnotes{font-size:90%;}</style>
</head>

<nav>
	<a href="#menu">Menu &darr;</a>
</nav>

<main>
<h1 id="width-or-flex-basis">Width or Flex-Basis?</h1>
<p>2018-11-28</p>
<p>Creating rows and columns of elements that adapt dynamically can be a little tricky depending on the desired outcome. Let&#8217;s breakdown how to solve this issue using both <code>inline-block</code> paired with <code>width</code> and <code>flex-basis</code>.</p>
<h2 id="width">Width</h2>
<p>Setting the width of the inner children to a divisible value and setting their display to <code>inline-block</code>, we are able to create self-wrapping elements:</p>
<pre><code>.width-container {
    display: block;
}
.width-container__item {
    display: inline-block;
    width: calc(33% - 3px); &#47;* Fix for wonky inline-block margins *&#47;
}
</code></pre>
<h3 id="pros">Pros</h3>
<ul>
<li>Full browser support (as far back as IE6)</li>
<li>No floats needed</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="cons">Cons</h3>
<ul>
<li>Buggy <code>margin</code> workaround needed</li>
<li>Wrapped elements cannot dynamically fill remaining empty parent space</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="flex-basis">Flex-basis</h2>
<p>This is my personal preference for dynamically wrapping inner children elements. Simply set the parent as <code>display: flex</code>, allow flex-wrapping and then set the <code>flex-basis</code> of the children to any percentage value.</p>
<pre><code>.flex-container {
    display: flex;
    flex-wrap: wrap;
}
.flex-container__item {
    flex: 1 1 auto;
    flex-basis: 33%;
}
</code></pre>
<p>You will also notice the <code>flex</code> property set to <code>1 1 auto</code>. This is important if you require your wrapped elements to fill the remaining space of the parent container.</p>
<h3 id="pros-1">Pros</h3>
<ul>
<li>No buggy margins to play with</li>
<li>Dynamically renders children to fill parent container if <code>flex</code> is set</li>
<li>Scales well across screen &#47; device sizes</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="cons-1">Cons</h3>
<ul>
<li>Some versions of IE struggle with browser support</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="codepen-demo">CodePen Demo</h2>
<p>Feel free to play around with a slightly more stylized version of both options below:</p>
<p>CodePen Demo: Width or flex-basis</p>
<footer role="contentinfo">
    <h2>Menu Navigation</h2>
    <ul id="menu">
        <li><a href="/">Home</a></li>
        <li><a href="/projects">Projects</a></li>
        <li><a href="/uses">Uses</a></li>
        <li><a href="/wiki">Wiki</a></li>
        <li><a href="/resume">Resume</a></li>
        <li><a href="/colophon">Colophon</a></li>
        <li><a href="/now">Now</a></li>
        <li><a href="/donate">Donate</a></li>
        <li><a href="/atom.xml">RSS</a></li>
        <li><a href="#top">&uarr; Top of the page</a></li>
    </ul>
    <small>
        Built with <a href="https://git.sr.ht/~bt/barf">barf</a>. <br>
        Maintained with ♥ for the web. <br>
        Proud supporter of <a href="https://usefathom.com/ref/DKHJVX">Fathom</a> &amp; <a href="https://nextdns.io/?from=74d3p3h8">NextDNS</a>. <br>
        The content for this site is <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">CC-BY-SA</a>.<br> The <a href="https://git.sr.ht/~bt/bt.ht">code for this site</a> is <a href="https://git.sr.ht/~bt/bt.ht/tree/master/item/LICENSE">MIT</a>.
    </small>
</footer>