5 responsive floating divs not aligning properly on mobile/tablet view (<992px) - html

Question

I have 5 side by side lists in my website's footer as follows:
<div class="row">
<div class="col-xs-12 footer-links">
<div class="links">
<h1 class="title">ABOUT US</h1>
<ul>
<li class="link"> About Company</li>
<li class="link"> Legal Documents</li>
<li class="link"> Careers</li>
<li class="link"> Contact Us</li>
<li class="link"> FAQs</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="links">
<h1 class="title">ACCOUNTS</h1>
<ul>
<li class="link">Register</li>
<li class="link">Compare Account Types</li>
<li class="link">Funding Options</li>
<li class="link">Islamic Account</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="links">
<h1 class="title">INSTRUMENTS</h1>
<ul>
<li class="link"> Currencies</li>
<li class="link"> Commodities</li>
<li class="link"> Metals</li>
<li class="link"> Shares</li>
<li class="link"> Bonds</li>
<li class="link"> Indices</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="links">
<h1 class="title">PLATFORMS</h1>
<ul>
<li class="link"> Meta Trader 4</li>
<li class="link"> MT4 Desktop</li>
<li class="link"> MT4 iOS</li>
<li class="link"> MT4 Android</li>
<li class="link"> MT4 Webtrader</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="links">
<h1 class="title">TRADING TOOLS</h1>
<ul>
<li class="link"> Expiration Dates</li>
<li class="link"> Market Hours</li>
<li class="link"> Holiday Calendar</li>
<li class="link"> Economic Calendar</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
What I would like to happen is that at any resolution below 992px, the lists will each take up 50% of the column creating 3 rows of 2 lists each except for the last (since I have 5 lists)
Here is my sass code: (maxMQ is just a mixin for a media query and $md-max-width is 992px)
.footer {
.links {
float: left;
display: inline-block;
width: calc(100% / 5);
#include maxMQ($md-max-width) {
margin-top: 30px;
width: 50%;
}
.title {
font-size: 14px;
margin-bottom: 5px;
padding-bottom: 7px;
display: inline-block;
border-bottom: 2px solid $highlight-blue;
}
ul {
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
display: block;
}
li {
margin-top: 5px;
font-size: 13px;
a {
color: #ffffff;
text-decoration: none;
cursor: pointer;
}
}
}
The problem is that when I reduce resolution below 992px (mobile/tablet), the 3rd list skips a spot on the second row. so it looks something like this:
row 1: list list
row 2: list
row 3: list list
What I want is:
row 1: list list
row 2: list list
row 3: list
I have no idea why this is happening. I do know that when I remove the ul's from within the 'links' divs it works fine.
Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Answer 1

This is due to the floating elements, the first element has more height than the second one and it's creating this issue on the second row.
To fix this and you can use flex and remove the floating:
.links {
float: left;
display: inline-block;
width: calc(100% / 5);
}
#media all and (max-width:992px) {
.footer-links {
display: flex;
flex-wrap:wrap;
}
.links {
margin-top: 30px;
width: 50%;
float: none;
}
.title {
font-size: 14px;
margin-bottom: 5px;
padding-bottom: 7px;
display: inline-block;
border-bottom: 2px solid $highlight-blue;
}
ul {
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
display: block;
}
li {
margin-top: 5px;
font-size: 13px;
}
li a {
color: #000 text-decoration: none;
cursor: pointer;
}
}
<div class="row">
<div class="col-xs-12 footer-links">
<div class="links">
<h1 class="title">ABOUT US</h1>
<ul>
<li class="link"> About Company</li>
<li class="link"> Legal Documents</li>
<li class="link"> Careers</li>
<li class="link"> Contact Us</li>
<li class="link"> FAQs</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="links">
<h1 class="title">ACCOUNTS</h1>
<ul>
<li class="link">Register</li>
<li class="link">Compare Account Types</li>
<li class="link">Funding Options</li>
<li class="link">Islamic Account</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="links">
<h1 class="title">INSTRUMENTS</h1>
<ul>
<li class="link"> Currencies</li>
<li class="link"> Commodities</li>
<li class="link"> Metals</li>
<li class="link"> Shares</li>
<li class="link"> Bonds</li>
<li class="link"> Indices</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="links">
<h1 class="title">PLATFORMS</h1>
<ul>
<li class="link"> Meta Trader 4</li>
<li class="link"> MT4 Desktop</li>
<li class="link"> MT4 iOS</li>
<li class="link"> MT4 Android</li>
<li class="link"> MT4 Webtrader</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="links">
<h1 class="title">TRADING TOOLS</h1>
<ul>
<li class="link"> Expiration Dates</li>
<li class="link"> Market Hours</li>
<li class="link"> Holiday Calendar</li>
<li class="link"> Economic Calendar</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
Or simply remove floating without adding flex but you need to fix white spaces issue to have them 50% width:
.links {
float: left;
display: inline-block;
width: calc(100% / 5);
}
#media all and (max-width:992px) {
.footer-links {
font-size: 0; /* remove white spaces */
}
.links {
margin-top: 30px;
width: 50%;
float: none;
font-size: initial; /* put back font as initial*/
vertical-align:top;
}
.title {
font-size: 14px;
margin-bottom: 5px;
padding-bottom: 7px;
display: inline-block;
border-bottom: 2px solid $highlight-blue;
}
ul {
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
display: block;
}
li {
margin-top: 5px;
font-size: 13px;
}
li a {
color: #000 text-decoration: none;
cursor: pointer;
}
}
<div class="row">
<div class="col-xs-12 footer-links">
<div class="links">
<h1 class="title">ABOUT US</h1>
<ul>
<li class="link"> About Company</li>
<li class="link"> Legal Documents</li>
<li class="link"> Careers</li>
<li class="link"> Contact Us</li>
<li class="link"> FAQs</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="links">
<h1 class="title">ACCOUNTS</h1>
<ul>
<li class="link">Register</li>
<li class="link">Compare Account Types</li>
<li class="link">Funding Options</li>
<li class="link">Islamic Account</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="links">
<h1 class="title">INSTRUMENTS</h1>
<ul>
<li class="link"> Currencies</li>
<li class="link"> Commodities</li>
<li class="link"> Metals</li>
<li class="link"> Shares</li>
<li class="link"> Bonds</li>
<li class="link"> Indices</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="links">
<h1 class="title">PLATFORMS</h1>
<ul>
<li class="link"> Meta Trader 4</li>
<li class="link"> MT4 Desktop</li>
<li class="link"> MT4 iOS</li>
<li class="link"> MT4 Android</li>
<li class="link"> MT4 Webtrader</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="links">
<h1 class="title">TRADING TOOLS</h1>
<ul>
<li class="link"> Expiration Dates</li>
<li class="link"> Market Hours</li>
<li class="link"> Holiday Calendar</li>
<li class="link"> Economic Calendar</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
Or you can simply add a min-height to your elements to be sure they have the same height:
.links {
float: left;
display: inline-block;
width: calc(100% / 5);
}
#media all and (max-width:992px) {
.links {
margin-top: 30px;
width: 50%;
min-height:170px; /* adjust this value with want you what*/
}
.title {
font-size: 14px;
margin-bottom: 5px;
padding-bottom: 7px;
display: inline-block;
border-bottom: 2px solid $highlight-blue;
}
ul {
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
display: block;
}
li {
margin-top: 5px;
font-size: 13px;
}
li a {
color: #000 text-decoration: none;
cursor: pointer;
}
}
<div class="row">
<div class="col-xs-12 footer-links">
<div class="links">
<h1 class="title">ABOUT US</h1>
<ul>
<li class="link"> About Company</li>
<li class="link"> Legal Documents</li>
<li class="link"> Careers</li>
<li class="link"> Contact Us</li>
<li class="link"> FAQs</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="links">
<h1 class="title">ACCOUNTS</h1>
<ul>
<li class="link">Register</li>
<li class="link">Compare Account Types</li>
<li class="link">Funding Options</li>
<li class="link">Islamic Account</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="links">
<h1 class="title">INSTRUMENTS</h1>
<ul>
<li class="link"> Currencies</li>
<li class="link"> Commodities</li>
<li class="link"> Metals</li>
<li class="link"> Shares</li>
<li class="link"> Bonds</li>
<li class="link"> Indices</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="links">
<h1 class="title">PLATFORMS</h1>
<ul>
<li class="link"> Meta Trader 4</li>
<li class="link"> MT4 Desktop</li>
<li class="link"> MT4 iOS</li>
<li class="link"> MT4 Android</li>
<li class="link"> MT4 Webtrader</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="links">
<h1 class="title">TRADING TOOLS</h1>
<ul>
<li class="link"> Expiration Dates</li>
<li class="link"> Market Hours</li>
<li class="link"> Holiday Calendar</li>
<li class="link"> Economic Calendar</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
Another easy fix for your situation is to clear floating after each last element of each row by using clear:left (but you need to adjust this if you change your logic, for example 3 per row instead of 2 per row):
.links {
float: left;
display: inline-block;
width: calc(100% / 5);
}
#media all and (max-width:992px) {
.links {
margin-top: 30px;
width: 50%;
}
/* Added this code*/
.links:nth-child(2n+1) {
clear:left;
}
/**/
.title {
font-size: 14px;
margin-bottom: 5px;
padding-bottom: 7px;
display: inline-block;
border-bottom: 2px solid $highlight-blue;
}
ul {
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
display: block;
}
li {
margin-top: 5px;
font-size: 13px;
}
li a {
color: #000 text-decoration: none;
cursor: pointer;
}
}
<div class="row">
<div class="col-xs-12 footer-links">
<div class="links">
<h1 class="title">ABOUT US</h1>
<ul>
<li class="link"> About Company</li>
<li class="link"> Legal Documents</li>
<li class="link"> Careers</li>
<li class="link"> Contact Us</li>
<li class="link"> FAQs</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="links">
<h1 class="title">ACCOUNTS</h1>
<ul>
<li class="link">Register</li>
<li class="link">Compare Account Types</li>
<li class="link">Funding Options</li>
<li class="link">Islamic Account</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="links">
<h1 class="title">INSTRUMENTS</h1>
<ul>
<li class="link"> Currencies</li>
<li class="link"> Commodities</li>
<li class="link"> Metals</li>
<li class="link"> Shares</li>
<li class="link"> Bonds</li>
<li class="link"> Indices</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="links">
<h1 class="title">PLATFORMS</h1>
<ul>
<li class="link"> Meta Trader 4</li>
<li class="link"> MT4 Desktop</li>
<li class="link"> MT4 iOS</li>
<li class="link"> MT4 Android</li>
<li class="link"> MT4 Webtrader</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="links">
<h1 class="title">TRADING TOOLS</h1>
<ul>
<li class="link"> Expiration Dates</li>
<li class="link"> Market Hours</li>
<li class="link"> Holiday Calendar</li>
<li class="link"> Economic Calendar</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>

Answer 2

inline-block automatically adds some margin to the elements, I believe around 4px. So 50% plus that 4px will make it more than 100%, pushing down the elements. Try changing to just block instead.