Day 12: Advanced CSS Grid Techniques—Spanning, Grid Areas, and Responsive Grids

By Robert Buseck, Margarito Valencia, zach dubroc, Jessika Hayes, Sara Dedeaux, Justin Buseck MCA-Misslou Instructor, Jonathan Pruitt WF360 Instructor, Matthew Harris, Herbert Brown, Jordan Roland, Blake Wyatt, Jim StClair, Windie Speed, Justin Buseck, Nicole Torres Mendez BHA Instructor, and WESLEY EDWARDS

Lesson Content

Recap: CSS Grid Basics

Grid Container: display: grid;
Grid Items: Direct children of the grid container.
Defining Rows and Columns: grid-template-rows and grid-template-columns
Fraction Units (fr): Flexible units to distribute space.

Advanced Grid Techniques

1. Spanning Grid Items

Grid Row and Column Spanning:
- grid-row and grid-column: Define where a grid item starts and ends.
- Syntax:

css
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.item {
  grid-column: start / end;
  grid-row: start / end;
}

- Example:

css
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.item-large {
  grid-column: 1 / 3; /* Spans from column line 1 to 3 */
  grid-row: 1 / 2;    /* Occupies row 1 */
}

2. Naming Grid Areas

grid-template-areas: Assigns names to specific areas of the grid layout.
Benefits:
- Enhances readability and maintainability.
- Simplifies the placement of grid items.
Syntax:

css
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.grid-container {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-areas:
    "header header"
    "sidebar main"
    "footer footer";
}
.header {
  grid-area: header;
}
.sidebar {
  grid-area: sidebar;
}
.main {
  grid-area: main;
}
.footer {
  grid-area: footer;
}

Visual Representation:

diff

+-----------------+
|     Header      |
+--------+--------+
| Sidebar|  Main  |
+--------+--------+
|     Footer      |
+-----------------+

3. Implicit Grids and Auto Placement

grid-auto-rows and grid-auto-columns: Define the size of implicitly created rows and columns.
grid-auto-flow: Controls how auto-placed items are inserted into the grid.
- Values:
  - row (default): Fills each row in turn.
  - column: Fills each column in turn.
  - dense: Fills in holes earlier in the grid if smaller items come up.
Example:

css
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.grid-container {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: repeat(3, 1fr);
  grid-auto-rows: 100px;
  grid-auto-flow: dense;
  gap: 10px;
}

4. Responsive Grid Layouts

Media Queries with Grid:
- Adjust grid configurations based on screen size.
Example:

css
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.grid-container {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-areas:
    "header"
    "main"
    "footer";
  grid-template-columns: 1fr;
}

@media (min-width: 768px) {
  .grid-container {
    grid-template-areas:
      "header header"
      "sidebar main"
      "footer footer";
    grid-template-columns: 200px 1fr;
  }
}

Flexible Grid Tracks:
- Use minmax() and auto-fit/auto-fill to create responsive columns.
- Example:

css
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.grid-container {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: repeat(auto-fit, minmax(150px, 1fr));
  gap: 20px;
}

HTML + CSS Example

html
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<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8" />
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0"/>
    <title>Week 5, Day 12: Advanced CSS Grid</title>
    <style>
      .grid-container {
        display: grid;
        grid-template-areas:
          "header header"
          "sidebar main"
          "footer footer";
        grid-template-columns: 200px 1fr;
        grid-template-rows: 60px 1fr 40px;
        gap: 10px;
        height: 100vh;
      }

      .header {
        grid-area: header;
        background-color: #4CAF50;
        color: white;
        padding: 15px;
        text-align: center;
      }

      .sidebar {
        grid-area: sidebar;
        background-color: #f4f4f4;
        padding: 15px;
      }

      .main {
        grid-area: main;
        background-color: #fff;
        padding: 15px;
      }

      .footer {
        grid-area: footer;
        background-color: #ddd;
        text-align: center;
        padding: 10px;
      }

      /* Responsive Adjustments */
      @media (max-width: 600px) {
        .grid-container {
          grid-template-areas:
            "header"
            "main"
            "sidebar"
            "footer";
          grid-template-columns: 1fr;
        }
      }

      /* Grid Item Spanning */
      .special {
        grid-column: 1 / 3; /* Span across both columns */
        background-color: #ffeb3b;
        padding: 10px;
        text-align: center;
      }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <div class="grid-container">
      <div class="header">Header</div>
      <div class="sidebar">Sidebar</div>
      <div class="main">
        <h2>Main Content</h2>
        <p>This is the main area where most content will reside.</p>
        <div class="special">Special Box Spanning Columns</div>
      </div>
      <div class="footer">Footer</div>
    </div>
  </body>
</html>

Grid Areas: Clearly defined sections (header, sidebar, main, footer) enhance readability and structure.
Responsive Design: Adjusts layout for smaller screens using media queries.
Spanning Items: The .special div spans across both columns, demonstrating grid item spanning.

Definition Section

Grid Item Spanning
- grid-column and grid-row: Define how many columns or rows a grid item should span.
- Syntax: grid-column: start / end; or grid-row: start / end;
Grid Areas
- grid-template-areas: Assigns names to specific sections of the grid layout for easier placement of grid items.
- grid-area: Assigns a grid item to a named area.
Flexibility with Fraction Units (fr)
- Represents a fraction of the available space, allowing grid tracks to adjust dynamically based on container size.
Implicit Grid
- Grid tracks that are automatically created by the browser when there are more items than defined in the grid-template.
Responsive Grids
- Grids that adjust their layout based on screen size, ensuring usability and aesthetics across devices.

Brief History of Advanced CSS Grid

CSS Grid Drafts (2011–2012): Initially developed by Microsoft for IE10, later standardized.
CSS Grid Official Specification (2017): Fully adopted by modern browsers, enabling sophisticated two-dimensional layouts.
Integration with Flexbox: Often used alongside Flexbox for one-dimensional layouts within grid items, providing a powerful combination for responsive design.

Fun Facts

CSS Grid vs. Flexbox: CSS Grid handles both rows and columns simultaneously (2D), whereas Flexbox is primarily for one-dimensional layouts (either row or column).
Shorthand Functions: The repeat() function simplifies grid definitions, e.g., repeat(3, 1fr) creates three equal columns.
Browser Support: CSS Grid enjoys broad support in modern browsers, but older browsers (like IE11) require vendor prefixes and have limited functionality.

Practice Problems

Create a new HTML file for each problem, applying advanced CSS Grid properties.

Problem 1: Grid Item Spanning

File Name: problem1.html
Instructions:
- Create a .grid-container with 3 columns and 3 rows.
- Add 5 .grid-item divs.
- Make one item span 2 columns and another span 2 rows using grid-column and grid-row.
- Style each item with different background colors to visualize the spanning.
Objective: Understand how grid items can occupy multiple tracks for flexible layouts.

Problem 2: Named Grid Areas

File Name: problem2.html
Instructions:
- Define a grid layout using grid-template-areas with sections like header, nav, main, aside, and footer.
- Assign each grid item to its respective area using the grid-area property.
- Ensure the layout adjusts gracefully on smaller screens using media queries.
Objective: Learn to use named grid areas for clearer and more maintainable layouts.

Problem 3: Responsive Grid with Auto-Fit and Minmax

File Name: problem3.html
Instructions:
- Create a .grid-container that uses grid-template-columns: repeat(auto-fit, minmax(150px, 1fr));
- Add multiple .grid-item divs (e.g., 8–12) with varying content.
- Ensure the grid adjusts the number of columns based on the viewport size.
Objective: Implement a responsive grid that adapts to different screen widths without explicit media queries.

Assignment Submission

After completing these exercises, call Mike over for feedback on your newly created HTML and CSS solutions.