CSS grid is a powerful and flexible tool for creating responsive web design layouts. It allows you to define a grid system for your content and align, resize, and position elements according to different screen sizes and breakpoints. In this article, you will learn how to use CSS grid for responsive web design by following these steps:
The first step is to define a grid container for your layout. A grid container is an element that has the display: grid property. This creates a grid context for its direct children, which become grid items. You can use any HTML element as a grid container, such as a div, a section, or a main. For example, <div class="grid-container"></div> creates a grid container with the class name grid-container.
One thing I find helpful is to first define how your grid-layout will look on mobile browsers. Then in all your media queries, use “min-width” to describe how your grid-layout will change as screen size increases. Using only “min-width” in your media queries will help you keep your sanity while you add complexity to your layout to compensate for increasing screen widths.
The next step is to define the grid columns and rows for your layout. You can use the grid-template-columns and grid-template-rows properties to specify the size and number of columns and rows in your grid. You can use different units, such as pixels, percentages, fractions, or auto, to create flexible or fixed grids. For example, grid-template-columns: 1fr 2fr 1fr; creates three columns with the middle one twice as wide as the others.
Consider your users scrolling experience on Mobile devices. Each grid element can vary in size or shape, remember to organize your rows with relevant content from left to right as this will help maintain your users attention and readability as they scroll. If you are separating information by column, you can manipulate the size of each column to fit the viewport of the device. Consider white space, breathability and flow of the column so that you don’t distort the users viewing experience.
The third step is to place the grid items in your layout. You can use the grid-column and grid-row properties to specify the start and end lines for each grid item. You can also use the grid-area property to name and assign areas to your grid items. For example, grid-area: header; assigns the grid item to the area named header. You can then use the grid-template-areas property to define the layout of your grid areas. For example, grid-template-areas: "header header header" "sidebar main main" "footer footer footer"; creates a layout with a header, a sidebar, a main content, and a footer.
The fourth step is to adjust the grid gaps in your layout. Grid gaps are the spaces between the grid columns and rows. You can use the grid-column-gap and grid-row-gap properties to set the size of the gaps. You can also use the shorthand property grid-gap to set both at once. For example, grid-gap: 10px 20px; creates a 10px gap between rows and a 20px gap between columns.
The final step is to use media queries to make your layout responsive. Media queries allow you to apply different styles based on the screen size, orientation, resolution, or other features of the device. You can use media queries to change the grid properties for different breakpoints, such as changing the number of columns, the size of the gaps, or the position of the grid items. For example, @media (max-width: 768px) { grid-template-columns: 1fr; grid-template-areas: "header" "main" "sidebar" "footer"; } creates a one-column layout for devices with a maximum width of 768px.
When designing your website, it's crucial to consider the multitude of ways users will be accessing it. Fortunately, media queries enable you to guarantee that your website looks and functions flawlessly on all devices - from smartphones to laptops and beyond. This level of adaptability is essential in today's digital landscape, where people frequently switch between screens of varying sizes and shapes. So, be sure to incorporate media queries into your web design strategy - it's a game-changer that will undoubtedly elevate your website's user experience.
Hi Have used responsive web design for my own website for years. I use the open source design available from MIT. Excellent and simple for obtaining complete layout control. I also programme using a simple text editor - no fancy web design software: that’s free and gives you complete control (plus you learn Html5, scripting and latest CCS
Achieve responsive design with fewer lines of code. The CSS grid system for responsive design is resilient, responsive, and today you can achieve this using minimum codes in the backend as you define your CSS property for grid. By converting a CSS element into grid, using display: grid, you can change the behavior of that element and thus all elements within are grid elements. There are functions you can use in CSS like minmax() to define the minimum width and maximum width, also repeat() that you can use to call predefined elements such as rows and columns within the layout.