Responsivity in HTML pages with column-like structures - html

Question

I am looking for a technique to handle responsivity in html pages that have column-like structures with multiple items.
Here is an example:
Codepen
<link href="https://stackpath.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.4.1/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet" />
<div class="row" style="width:200;">
<div class="col-sm-6">
<div class="item">
First
<br><br>
</div>
<div class="item">
Second Second Second Second Second Second Second
<br><br>
</div>
<div class="item">
Third<br><br>
</div>
</div>
<div class="col-sm-6">
<div class="item">
First First First First First<br><br>
</div>
<div class="item">
Second<br><br>
</div>
<div class="item">
Third<br><br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
I would like it to look like this:
The height of each "item" needs to grow and shrink dynamically according to the length of its text and browser-window width, while staying aligned with the other column.
I also need that when the screen is narrow enough, the right column should move under the left column.
My problem is that for Bootstrap, I seem to need to place each column into a separate div.
On the other hand, when the columns appear side by side, if I want corresponding items to appear at the same height, I need to separate them into rows and not columns.
PS. I tried display:flex but could not find a way that works.
Any ideas?
Thanks
Arie

Answer 1

If you use BS3 but are willing to use flex aside, you can consider grid instead inside a mediaquerie and a custom class :
Your comment I react to:
Thanks G-Cyrillus. Is it possible to do that with Flex and Bs3? This is a large website which is built entirely with BootStrap3, and upgrading to Bs4 is currently not an option.
possible example with BS3, using a custom class inside a mediaquerie:
/*see us, demo purpose */
.row div {
box-shadow: 0 0 0 1px
}
/* custom class for the breakpoint where rows are drawn into columns with matching rows */
#media screen and (max-width: 992px) and (min-width:768px) {
:before,
:after {
grid-row: -1
}
.grid-md-2 {
display: grid;
grid-template-columns: repeat(2, 1fr);
grid-auto-flow: row dense;
}
.grid-md-2 [class^="col"] {
width: 100%;
grid-column: 1;
}
/*.grid-md-2 [class^="col"]:nth-child(3)~[class^="col"]*/
/* update for a repeating pattern */
.grid-md-2 [class^="col"]:nth-child(6n -2),
.grid-md-2 [class^="col"]:nth-child(6n -1),
.grid-md-2 [class^="col"]:nth-child(6n) {
grid-column: 2;
}
}
<link href="https://stackpath.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.4.1/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet" />
<div class="container">
<div class="row grid-md-2">
<div class="col-sm-6 col-md-4 col-xs-12">
First
</div>
<div class="col-sm-6 col-md-4 col-xs-12">
Second
</div>
<div class="col-sm-6 col-md-4 col-xs-12">
Third
</div>
<div class="col-sm-6 col-md-4 col-xs-12">
First First First
<br><br> First First
</div>
<div class="col-sm-6 col-md-4 col-xs-12">
Second<br>Second
</div>
<div class="col-sm-6 col-md-4 col-xs-12">
Third
</div>
</div>
</div>

Answer 2

The Bootstrap Grid layout is already dynamic in nature, so you don't need the style attribute for row width.
For the right column to go under the left column in the mobile view, use the bootstrap grid for mobile view. So just add the mobile view grid layout class name for each column div element.
<link href="https://stackpath.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.4.1/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet" />
<div class="row">
<div class="col-sm-6 col-xs-12">
<div class="item">
First
<br><br>
</div>
<div class="item">
Second Second Second Second Second Second Second
<br><br>
</div>
<div class="item">
Third<br><br>
</div>
</div>
<div class="col-sm-6 col-xs-12">
<div class="item">
First First First First First<br><br>
</div>
<div class="item">
Second<br><br>
</div>
<div class="item">
Third<br><br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
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