Arrange columns according to height - html

Question

I am using bootstrap for grid.
When the an column is expanded the other columns which are on right are aligning properly but the elements which are left to it are not aligning properly.
<div class="row">
<div class="repeater" ng-repeat="student in students | filter : query">
<div class="span{{12/columns}} col-sm-6 panel panel-warning">
<div class="panel-body">
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-5"><img ng-src = "img/{{student.img}}" width="80px;" class="img-circle"></div>
<div class="col-md-7">
<button class="btn btn-info" style="margin-top:20px;" ng-click="show=!show">{{student.name}}</button>
<button type="button" class="close pull-right" ng-click="remove(student)">× </button>
</div>
</div>
<table class="table table-striped table-hover" ng-show="show">
<tr><th style="padding-right:0px;">Father Name:</th><td>{{student.fathername}}</td> </tr>
<tr><th>Class: </th><td>{{student.class}}</td></tr>
<tr><th>Subj1: </th><td>{{student.results.subj1}}</td></tr>
<tr><th>subj2: </th><td>{{student.results.subj2}}</td></tr>
<tr><th>subj3: </th><td>{{student.results.subj3}}</td></tr>
<tr><th>subj4: </th><td>{{student.results.subj4}}</td></tr>
</table>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Here is the fiddle link view in fullscreen view.
I want all the elements in the grid to align properly without leaving any place.
Can anyone help me?

Answer 1

This is not entirely possible with bootstrap. To explain you why, the .col-md-4 class has css property float: left which means whenever you open the right-most box, the left-side elements takes the height of the right-box, thus not allowing any other boxes below it.
You could get it working for the left and right elements by giving float:right for every last element in the row (in your case using .col-md-4:nth-child(3n){ float:right; }) like in the demo here but the middle element cannot be helped because it is still under float:left.
For your requirement, I recommend you use a JS library like Masonry which does exactly what you are expecting and used in cases where containers have variable heights and you want to fix them tightly, leaving no gap.

Answer 2

Here is what you are looking for: http://jsfiddle.net/ewNc6/
The trick is to insert a 'clear:both' on the first of each row.
<div class="col-md-4" ng-repeat="student in students" style="{{$index % 3 == 0 && 'clear:both'}}">
This normally will tie the code to the number of rows, but then again so does <div class="col-md-4" ,so you might be ok when doing so.