How can I use flexbox to achieve a complex, responsive HTML layout? - html

Question

I have looked into Flexbox to achieve a responsive layout like pictured below. Unfortunately I still have not figured out how to achieve a desktop layout like Figure 1 which rearranges itself to Figure 2 on viewports smaller than 414 pixel.
Figure 1 (desktop viewports)
Figure 2 (mobile viewports)
(scaled version)
Click here for image in original size
My code so far :
.flexbox {
display: -webkit-box;
display: -ms-flexbox;
display: -webkit-flex;
display: flex;
flex-wrap: wrap;
width: 100%;
margin: 0;
flex-direction: row;
}
.content-flexbox.one {
flex-basis: calc(66% - 1rem);
order: 2;
}
.content-flexbox.two {
flex-basis: calc(30% - 1rem);
order: 1;
}
.content-flexbox.three {
order: 3;
}
.content-flexbox.four {
order: 4;
}
.content-flexbox {
margin: 1rem;
-webkit-box-flex: 1;
-webkit-flex: 1;
-ms-flex: 1;
flex: 1;
}
#media only screen and (max-width: 959px) {
.flexbox {
-flex-direction: column;
padding-top: 1rem;
}
.content-flexbox {
margin: 1rem;
flex: 1;
flex-basis: 100%;
}
.content-flexbox.one {
flex-basis: 100%;
order: 1;
}
.content-flexbox.two {
flex-basis: 100%;
order: 2;
}
}
<div class="flexbox">
<div class="content-flexbox one">
<h1 class="posttitle">Lorem ipsum</h1>
<h2 class="subtitle">dolor sit amet</h2>
</div>
<div class="content-flexbox two">
<img src="http://placehold.it/300x300" />
</div>
<div class="content-flexbox three">
<span>Lorem ipsum dolor</span>
</div>
<div id="container-voting" class="content-flexbox four">
<div class="inner-container set">
<span>Lorem ipsum dolor</span>
</div>
<div class="inner-container get">
<span>Lorem ipsum dolor</span>
</div>
</div>
</div>
My question
Is this even possible with flexbox? Is there a better alternative more suited for this layout?

Answer 1

You’re looking for the experimental grid syntax. Flexbox is good for smaller, widget or component layout systems. Grid is for overall page layout, and it’s awesome.
Thing is, grid is only supported in IE, Edge, and the upcoming Safari browsers right now, but Firefox and Chrome support is allegedly just around the corner, and you can start trying it out today by enabling the right developer flag in those browsers.
Here is some sample code, but again, it will only work if your browser supports the new grid syntax.
*{
box-sizing: border-box;
}
.flexbox{
width: 320px;
display: grid;
grid-template-columns: calc(50% - 0.5ch) calc(50% - 0.5ch);
grid-gap: 1ch;
}
.one{
order: 2;
background-color: red;
}
.two{
grid-column: 1 / 3;
order: 1;
background-color: green;
}
.three{
order: 3;
background-color: pink;
}
.four{
display: grid;
grid-column: 1 / 3;
grid-gap: 1ch;
order: 4;
background-color: lavender;
}
.inner-container{
background-color: violet;
}
#media screen and (min-width: 500px){
.flexbox{
width: 500px;
grid-template-columns: calc(33.333% - 0.333ch) calc(33.333% - 0.333ch) calc(33.333% - 0.333ch);
}
.one{
grid-row: 1 / 3;
order: 1;
}
.two{
order: 2;
grid-column: 2 / 4;
}
.three{
order: 3;
}
.four{
grid-column: 3 / 4;
order: 4;
}
}
<div class="flexbox">
<div class="content-flexbox one">
<h1 class="posttitle">Lorem ipsum</h1>
<h2 class="subtitle">dolor sit amet</h2>
</div>
<div class="content-flexbox two">
<img src="http://placehold.it/300x300" />
</div>
<div class="content-flexbox three">
<span>Lorem ipsum dolor</span>
</div>
<div id="container-voting" class="content-flexbox four">
<div class="inner-container set">
<span>Lorem ipsum dolor</span>
</div>
<div class="inner-container get">
<span>Lorem ipsum dolor</span>
</div>
</div>

Answer 2

Although this question explicitly asked for a flexbox approach, there is another way to achive it using simple floats.
A media query allows to rearange the elements in the desired order on viewports less than 414px wide:
.wrap {
background: #d0d0d0;
padding: 1%;
}
.wrap:after {
content: '';
display: block;
clear: both;
}
.el {
float: left;
margin: 1%;
}
.el1 {
width: 31.33%;
padding-bottom: 31.33%;
background: #FF7676;
}
.el2 {
float: right;
width: 64.66%;
padding-bottom: 14.66%;
background: #C2FF76;
}
.el3 {
width: 31.33%;
padding-bottom: 14.66%;
background: #FF9BF7;
}
.el4 {
width: 31.33%;
padding-bottom: 6.33%;
background: #9BA4FF;
}
#media (max-width: 414px) {
.el2, .el4 {
width: 98%;
padding-bottom: 31.33%;
}
.el1, .el3 {
width: 48%;
padding-bottom: 48%;
}
}
<div class="wrap">
<div class="el el2"></div>
<div class="el el1"></div>
<div class="el el3"></div>
<div class="el el4"></div>
<div class="el el4"></div>
</div>
Note that I used padding-bottom to keep the aspect ratio of the elements in this example (more info in this answer).
I don't know what content you intend to put in the blocks but you will need to use absolute positionnig for it if you want to stick with the "padding technique". For plain text content, you can check this fiddle.

Answer 3

The problem is that, if you want to be able to rearrange all items, they must be flex items of the same flex container. But Flexbox does not provide any direct way to make an element occupy more than one flex line.
However, you can use multiple containers and display: contents:
The element itself does not generate any boxes, but its children and
pseudo-elements still generate boxes as normal. For the purposes of
box generation and layout, the element must be treated as if it had
been replaced with its children and pseudo-elements in the document
tree.
/* Desktop */
.container {
display: flex;
flex-wrap: wrap;
}
.container > * {
flex-grow: 1;
}
.item {
margin: 2px;
}
.column {
flex-direction: column;
}
.fill {
width: 100%;
}
/* Mobile */
#media (max-width: 414px) {
.container > .container {
display: contents;
}
.i2 {
order: -1;
}
.i4 {
width: 100%;
}
}
/* Pretty */
.i1 { background: #FF7676; }
.i2 { background: #C2FF76; }
.i3 { background: #FF9BF7; }
.i4 { background: #9BA4FF; }
<div class="container">
<div class="item i1">1</div>
<div class="container">
<div class="item i2 fill">2</div>
<div class="item i3">3</div>
<div class="container column">
<div class="item i4">4a</div>
<div class="item i4">4b</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
The only problem is that display: contents is not widely supported yet, but you can see it working on Firefox.

Answer 4

I don't think this is possible to do with pure css, but you could use some js and change html structure on resize with wrapAll() and unwrap(). You also need to use media queries to change order and some css when window is < 414px.
$(window).on("resize", function() {
var windowW = $(window).width();
if (windowW < 414) {
if ($('.right, right-inner').length) $('.two, .four').unwrap();
if (!$('.top').length) $('.one, .two, .three').wrapAll('<div class="top"></div>');
} else {
if ($('.top').length) $('.one, .two, .three').unwrap();
if (!$('.right, .right-inner').length) {
$('.three, .four').wrapAll('<div class="right-inner"></div>');
$('.two, .right-inner').wrapAll('<div class="right"></div>');
}
}
}).resize();
* {
box-sizing: border-box;
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
}
body,
html {
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
font-family: sans-serif;
}
.flexbox {
display: flex;
min-height: 100vh;
color: white;
font-size: 50px;
}
.one {
flex: 1;
background: #FF7676;
margin: 10px;
}
.right {
flex: 2;
display: flex;
flex-direction: column;
margin: 10px;
}
.two {
height: 40%;
display: flex;
margin-bottom: 20px;
margin-right: 10px;
}
.two img {
width: 100%;
margin: 0;
}
.right-inner {
display: flex;
flex: 2;
}
.three,
.four {
flex: 1;
}
.three {
background: #FF9BF7;
margin-right: 10px;
}
.four {
display: flex;
flex-direction: column;
}
.set,
.get {
background: #9BA4FF;
flex: 1;
margin: 5px;
}
.set {
margin-top: 0;
}
.get {
margin-bottom: 0;
}
#media(max-width: 414px) {
.flexbox {
flex-direction: column;
}
.flexbox > * {
flex: 1;
margin: 10px;
}
.get,
.set {
margin: 0;
margin-bottom: 10px;
}
.two {
order: -1;
flex: 0 0 100%;
margin-bottom: 0;
}
.two img {
height: 100px;
}
.one,
.three {
width: 50%;
margin: 0;
}
.one {
margin-right: 10px;
}
.top {
display: flex;
flex-wrap: wrap;
}
}
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.1.0/jquery.min.js"></script>
<div class="flexbox">
<div class="content-flexbox one">
<span class="posttitle">1</span>
</div>
<div class="right">
<div class="content-flexbox two">
<img src="http://placehold.it/300x300/C2FF76" />
</div>
<div class="right-inner">
<div class="content-flexbox three">
<span>3</span>
</div>
<div id="container-voting" class="content-flexbox four">
<div class="inner-container set">
<span>4a</span>
</div>
<div class="inner-container get">
<span>4b</span>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>

Answer 5

I see that you can make two containers with floats and like mentioned before use liquid style page with width %. If you aproche mobile viewport use media querys to declair breakpoints.