CSS Flexbox

Flexible, Robust Line-Based Layout

R. Scott Granneman r Jans Carton

© 2017 R. Scott Granneman

Last updated 2023-10-23
You are free to use this work, with certain restrictions.
3.7 For full licensing information, please see the last slide/page.
 ❶ ❷ ❸ ❹ ❺ ❻ ❼
❽ ❾ ❿

Flexbox is for laying out elements in a particular

direction along a (sometimes wrapped) line
Terms
Flex Container

Flex Items
Main Axis: primary axis on which ßex
items are laid out (↔ or !)

Cross Axis: perpendicular

to the main axis (! or ↔)
Assumes flex-direction: row
Cross Start

Main Start Main End

Cross End
Flex Container Cross Size Flex Container Main Size

Flex Item Main Size Flex Item Cross Size

Main Axis: primary
axis on which ßex
items are laid out
(! or ↔)

Cross Axis:
perpendicular
to the main axis
(↔ or !)
 Main Start

Cross End

Cross Start

Main End
Assumes flex-direction: column
Flex Container
Main Size

Flex Item
Main Size

Flex Item
Cross Size
Flex Container
Cross Size
 Flex container

Flex items

Main axis
Cross axis

On the following slides, youÕll see these symbols

↔
↔
display: flex column-gap
display: inline-flex row-gap
gap
flex-direction
flex-wrap
flex-flow

justify-content
align-content
place-content

align-items
order

align-self

flex-grow
flex-shrink
flex-basis
flex
 Triggering
Flexbox Layout
 display: flex (<inside>)
display: block flex (<outside> <inside>)

Triggers flex layout for the container box:

È Flex container box stacks (because block)

È Immediate children become flex items
 display: inline-flex

Generates an inline box that behaves according to

the flexbox model:

È Generates atomic inline box Ñ an inline box that does

not break across lines (just like display: inline-
block)
È Immediate children become flex items
È Changes the layout mode inside it
 display:

flex 8* 12 28 9 9 29 4.4
inline-flex 11 12 28 9 9 29 4.4

* Uses -ms-flexbox 8Ð10 use -ms-inline-flexbox

Direction,
Wrapping,
& Order
flex-direction

flex-wrap

flex-flow

order
 flex-direction

SpeciÞes how flex items are laid out in the flex

container by settingÉ

È the main axis: ↔ !

È the direction of the ßow along the main axis
 flex-direction

Values:
È row (default) !
È row-reverse !
È column !
È column-reverse !
flex-direction: row

Flex items are stacked in a row !: from left-to-right

(If the default for your locale is direction: rtl, then

itÕs the opposite)
flex-direction: row-reverse

Flex items are stacked in a row !: from right-to-left

(If the default for your locale is direction: rtl, then

itÕs the opposite)
flex-direction: column

Flex items are stacked !: in a column from top-to-

bottom
flex-direction: column-reverse

Flex items are stacked !: in a column from bottom-to-

top
You can apply display: flex on ßex items

Add flex-direction to the mix & you can really have

something
Each card is both a ßex item & a ßex container

flex-direction: row for the outer container;

flex-direction: column for each card
On a mobile device,
responsive layout
aligns them
vertically & their
height is now sized
to their content
flex-wrap

SpeciÞes if ßex container lays out flex items in single or

multiple lines, & the direction new lines are stacked in

Only applies if the ßex container is too small to contain

the ßex items
 flex-wrap

Values:
È nowrap (default)
È wrap
È wrap-reverse
flex-wrap: nowrap

Flex items are displayed in one row

These are not 200px wide because ßex
items do not wrap by default
flex-wrap: wrap

Flex items are displayed in multiple rows, from left-to-

right and top-to-bottom
These are 200px wide
flex-wrap: wrap-reverse

Flex items are displayed in multiple rows, from left-to-

right but from bottom-to-top
flex-flow

Shorthand for setting flex-direction & flex-wrap

flex-flow: <flex-direction> <flex-wrap>

Default is row nowrap

order

SpeciÞes order in which flex items appear inside the

ßex container

Default is 0, which orders ßex items according to order

in HTML

Value: <integer>
flex-direction 11 12 28 9 9 29 4.4
flex-wrap 11* 12 28 9 9 29 4.4
flex-flow 11 12 28 9 9 29 4.4
order 11 12 28 9 9.2 29 4.4

* Very buggy; see chnsa.ws/1ik for more

 Aligning
Items & Lines
justify-content safe
align-content
start
place-content end

align-items column-gap
align-self row-gap

gap
Remember that distributed alignment focuses on
distributing space among aligned boxes, e.g., stretch,
space-around, space-between, & space-evenly
 Flex items Flex lines*
Main axis justify-content
align-items
Cross axis align-self align-content

This table shows the relationship between box align-

ment keywords in ßexbox layout**
justify-self & justify-items do not apply with ßex

* Requires flex-wrap: wrap ** Alas, these terms have different relationships in grid layout
 !PRO TIP
Never use width & height with ßexbox layout! Instead of
width & height, size items using these for the cross axis:

È align-items: stretch
È align-content: stretch
È align-self: stretch

And this for the main axis:

È flex-basis

WeÕre going to cover align-* in this section

 Aligning
Flex Items
on the Main Axis
justify-content

DeÞnes how space is distributed between & around flex

items along the main axis of their container
 Values for justify-content:

È flex-start (default)
È flex-end
È center
È space-between
È space-around
È space-evenly
È start
È end
justify-content: flex-start

Aligns ßex items to the start of the main axis of the flex
container

Default value for justify-content

justify-content: flex-end

Aligns ßex items to the end of the main axis of the flex
container
justify-content: center

Aligns ßex items at the center of the main axis of the

flex container
justify-content: space-between

Flex items have equal spacing between them, with Þrst

& last ßex items aligned to edges of the main axis of the
ßex container
No space before Þrst ßex item
(or after last ßex item), but
equal space between ßex items
justify-content: space-around

Flex items have equal spacing around them, with Þrst

& last ßex items getting half-sized spaces on the ends of
the main axis of the ßex container

Empty space before the Þrst, and after the last, ßex
items equals half of the space between two adjacent
items
Space before 1st ßex item (&
after last ßex item) is 1/2 of
space between ßex items
justify-content: space-evenly

Flex items have equal spacing around them, with Þrst

& last ßex items getting equal spaces on the ends of the
main axis of the ßex container

Empty space before the Þrst, and after the last, ßex
items equals the space between two adjacent items
Space before Þrst ßex item &
after last ßex item equal to
space between ßex items
justify-content:* 11 12 29 9 9.2 29 4.4
space-evenly Ð 79 52 11 11 60 Y

* Includes support for flex-start, flex-end, center, space-between, & space-around

 Aligning
Flex Items
on the Cross Axis
align-items

Aligns flex items in the cross axis of the current ßex line
 Values for align-items:

È stretch (default)
È flex-start
È flex-end
È center
È baseline
È start
È end
align-items: stretch

Flex items fill the whole height (or width) from cross
start to cross end of the ßex container

Obviously the ßex item cannot have height set

Default value for align-items

align-items: flex-start

Flex items stack from the cross start of the ßex

container
align-items: flex-end

Flex items stack from the cross end of the ßex container
align-items: center

Flex items stack from the center of the cross axis of the
ßex container
Horizontally
and vertically
centered!
" # $ %&
align-items: baseline

Flex items stack so that the baselines are aligned inside

the ßex container
align-items 11 12 27 9 9 52 4.4
align-self

Allows the default alignment, or the one speciÞed for

the ßex container by align-items, to be overridden for
individual flex items
 Values for align-self:

È auto (default)
È flex-start
È flex-end
È center
È baseline
È stretch
È start
È end
align-self: auto

Uses the value of align-items on the flex container

If align-items isnÕt set on the ßex container,

remember that it defaults to stretch
align-self: flex-start/start

Flex item stacks from the cross start of the ßex

container

flex-start is well-supported; the future is start

align-self: flex-end/end

Flex item stacks from the cross end of the ßex container

flex-end is well-supported; the future is end

align-self: center

Flex item stacks from the center of the cross axis of the
ßex container
align-self: baseline

Flex item stacks so that the baselines are aligned inside

the ßex container
align-self: stretch

Flex item fills the whole height (or width) from cross
start to cross end of the ßex container

Default value for align-items on the ßex container

align-self: 11 12 27 9 9 36 4.4
baseline Ð 79 45 Ð Ð 57 Y
stretch 11 79 52 Ð Ð 57 Y
 Aligning
Flex Lines
on the Cross Axis
align-content

Aligns multiple lines of ßex items within the ßex

container when there is extra space in the cross axis

Similar to how justify-content aligns individual

items within the main axis
What about all this extra space?
align-content only effects layout when there are
multiple lines of ßex items inside the ßex container &
flex-wrap is set to wrap or wrap-reverse

If there is only a single line of ßex items, align-

content has no effect on the layout
 Values for align-content:

È stretch (default)
È flex-start
È flex-end
È center
È space-between
È space-around
È space-evenly
È start
È end
align-content: stretch

Flex items display with distributed space after every

line of ßex items

Default for align-content

align-content: flex-start

Flex items begin at the cross start of the ßex container

based on ßex-direction
align-content: flex-end

Flex items are stacked at the cross end of the ßex

container, but not starting there
align-content: center

Flex items are stacked in the center of the cross axis of

the ßex container
align-content: space-between

Rows of ßex items have equal spacing between them,

with first & last rows aligned to the top & bottom edges
of the ßex container
No space after last row (or before 1st
row), but equal space between rows
align-content: space-around

Rows of ßex items have equal spacing between them,

but space before the Þrst row & after the last row equals
half of the space between adjacent rows

Similar to justify-content: space-around, but

focuses on rows instead of ßex items
Space after last row (& before 1st row) is
1/2 of space between rows
align-content: space-evenly

Rows of ßex items have equal spacing around them,

even the first & last rows
Space after last row (& before 1st row) is
equal to space between rows
 ' SIDE NOTE

place-content

Shorthand for align-content (which aligns lines on

the cross axis, or block direction) & justify-content
(which aligns items on the main axis, or inline
direction)

Values: <align-content> <justify-content>

If only 1 value is provided, it applies to both

 ' SIDE NOTE

Nice quick way to center ßex items if & only if flex-

wrap: wrap is enabled:

place-content: center;
align-content: 11 12 28 9 9.2 29 4.4
stretch Ð 79 52 9 9 57 &
space-evenly Ð 79 52 11 11 60 Y
place-content Ð 79 45 9 9.2 59 59
 Scooby-Doo
& The Dangers
of Data Loss
Every property previously covered in this section Ñ
justify-content, align-content, place-content,
align-items, & align-self Ñ also supports 2 values
that work in conjunction with the other values: safe &
unsafe, e.g.:

div {
display: flex;
align-items: safe center;
justify-content: safe center;
}
The viewport is
easily big enough for
our centered image
Now make the viewport smaller than the centered
image

The image is still centered, therefore all 4 edges go

outside the viewport

LetÕs see what happensÉ

Uh oh Ñ the top & left of the image is completely out of reach,
so that we canÕt even scroll to it!
But we can scroll to the bottom & right without a problem
Why?

Since we were unable to scroll past the top or left of the

viewport to see the top or left of the image, you
experience what the W3C calls Òdata lossÓ

You can still scroll right & down, however, thanks to the
left-to-right direction & top-to-bottom writing mode of
English
LetÕs enable safe center for align-items & justify-
content

Now when scrolling is triggered, the image is no longer

centered & is now aligned as though it was:

align-items: start;
justify-content: start;
Now we can see the top & left of the image (before, it was out
of reach)É
& the bottom & right, like we always could
 align-items:
Ð 115 63 Ð Ð 115 115
safe & unsafe
justify-content:
Ð 115 63 Ð Ð 115 115
safe & unsafe

Since Safari doesnÕt support safe & unsafe for now, make
sure your design handles the problem via other responsive
behaviors such as image resizing & word wrapping
Marathon Man (1976)
 Aligning
via Writing Mode
Every property previously covered in this section Ñ
justify-content, align-content, place-content,
align-items, & align-self Ñ also supports 2 values:
start & end, e.g.:

div {
display: flex;
justify-content: start;
}
start

Flex items are aligned at the logical start edge of the

ßex container relative to reading direction or writing
mode

end

Flex items are aligned at the logical end edge of the ßex
container relative reading direction or writing-mode
Latin- & Han-based Mongolian-based
Block start Inline start

Inline start

Block start
Inline end

Block end
Block end Inline end

Arabic-based Han-based
Block start Inline start
Inline start

Block start
Inline end

Block end
Block end Inline end
justify-content:
Ð Ð 45 9 9 Ð Ð
start & end
align-items:
Ð Ð 45 Ð Ð Ð Ð
start & end
align-self:
Ð 79 45 Ð Ð 57 Y
start & end
align-content:
Ð Ð 45 Ð Ð Ð Ð
start & end
place-content:
? ? ? ? ? ? ?
start & end
Gutters
column-gap

DeÞnes minimum size of space (the gutter) between

items

row-gap

DeÞnes minimum size of gutter between wrapped lines

gap

DeÞnes minimum size of gutter between rows &

columns

Shorthand for setting column-gap & row-gap

column-gap Ð 84 63 14.1 14.6 84 84
row-gap Ð 84 63 14.1 14.6 84 84
gap Ð 84 63 14.1 14.6 84 84
 !PRO TIP
Due to lack of support, for now use Þxed-length margins Ñ
e.g., margin-left: 20px; Ñ but understand that this brings
with them limitations & complications

Limitations: since you canÕt do a Þrst or last line selector,

you cannot exclude margins from the Þrst or last line if
wrapping occurs

Complications: if wrapping is not going to occur, you need to

use :nth-child, :first-child, or :last-child, as needed

Or just use grid if the design allows

margin: auto
margin: auto

Takes all available space (horizontally & vertically)

within a ßex line

Helpful since justify-self property isnÕt available in

Flexbox
 Sizing
Flex Items
flex-grow

flex-shrink

flex-basis

flex
By default, ßex items are sized to their content,
similarly to table cells
 !PRO TIP
Never use width & height with ßexbox layout! Instead of
width & height, size items using these for the cross axis:

È align-items: stretch
È align-content: stretch
È align-self: stretch

And this for the main axis:

È flex-basis

WeÕre going to cover flex-basis in this section

 flex-grow

SpeciÞes if a flex item can grow if necessary to take

up available space inside its ßex container

Value: <number>
È 0: do not grow (default)
È Positive <number>: ßex item can grow
Any positive number for flex-grow allows the ßex item
to grow to Þll all available space

All ßex items that have the same number grow the same
amount

If those numbers differ, ßex items grow proportionally

based upon those numbers, with larger numbers
growing more
 flex-shrink

SpeciÞes if a flex item can shrink if necessary to fit

inside its ßex container

Value: <number>
È 1: all ßex items can shrink to Þt (default)
È 0: do not shrink below the original size
È Positive <number>: ßex item can shrink
Any positive number for flex-shrink allows the ßex
item to shrink to Þt within its ßex container

All ßex items that have the same number shrink the
same amount

If those numbers differ, ßex items shrink propor-

tionally based upon those numbers, with larger
numbers shrinking more
 Note thatÉ

È the default for flex-grow is 0: do not grow

È the default for flex-shrink is 1: shrink as necessary
 !PRO TIP

We have said not to use width or height Ñ & we mean

that

You will, however, need to use max-width & min-width

on ßex items to limit their maximum growth or
shrinking
 flex-basis

DeÞnes initial main size of a flex item before changes

caused by flex-grow or flex-shrink are applied

Values:
È auto (default)
È content
È max-content
È min-content
È <width>
 What about width/height? Why use flex-basis
instead?

È flex-basis avoids content overßow problems

È flex-basis works along the main axis, so you donÕt
need to worry about flex-direction vs width/
height
È flex-basis is designed to work together with flex-
grow & flex-shrink
È flex-basis is part of the flex shorthand, which the
W3C recommends you use
flex-basis: auto

Sizes ßex items based on their content

Warning: this assumes you have not used width/

height, which we told you not to do!

If you do have width/height set, auto uses that value

instead (see why we told you not to use it?)
flex-basis: content

Sizes ßex items according to content while ignoring

width/height

Only supported in a few browsers!

You wonÕt need this because you wonÕt use width/

height, right? Right? Riiiiiiight?
flex-basis: max-content

Sizes ßex items to longest the content can be (if it were

not wrapped)

flex-basis: min-content

Sizes ßex items to narrowest the content can be, e.g.,

the longest word or image
flex-basis: <length>|<percentage>

Overrides the CSS height or width properties of a ßex

item (as if you were to disobey us & use them! Never!)

Can be either a <length> (e.g., px, em, rem, vh) or

<percentage> of the ßex container
flex-basis: 0

Do not base initial size on content, so growing &

shrinking occur without content in mind
flex-grow & flex-shrink

flex-basis (not auto)

width or height (No!)

Content (aka flex-basis: auto, the default)

Order of sizing effect for ßex items

 flex

Instead of flex-grow, flex-shrink, & flex-basis, the

W3C encourages the use of the shorthand flex instead

Why?

È flex-grow, flex-shrink, & flex-basis always work

together when it comes to sizing ßex items, & flex
combines them intelligently
È flex sets values that make sense for common uses
 flex values:

È <flex-grow> <flex-shrink> <flex-basis>

È initial (default)
È auto
È none
È <number>
È <length>|<percentage>
flex takes 1, 2, or 3 values

1 is a keyword or <number>

2 (e.g., 1 25px), but this is really confusing

3 for <flex-grow> <flex-shrink> <flex-basis>

Of these, we recommend 1 or 3
Single value <flex-grow> <flex-shrink> <flex-basis>
initial 0 1 auto
auto 1 1 auto
none 0 0 auto
<number> <number> 1 0
<length> 1 1 <length>
<percentage> 1 1 <percentage>
 flex: initial

Equivalent to 0 1 auto

È Do not grow
È Shrink if not enough space in container
È Size based on content

Default for flex

 flex: auto

Equivalent to 1 1 auto

È Grow to absorb free space

È Shrink if not enough space } Fully ßexible!
È Size based on content
 flex: none

Equivalent to 0 0 auto

È Do not grow
È Do not shrink } Inßexible!
È Size based on content
 flex: <number>

Equivalent to <number> 1 0

È Grow to absorb free space

È Shrink if not enough space in container
È Base size is not based on content, so growing &
shrinking occur without content in mind

Typically this will results in all ßex items having the

same size
 flex-grow 11 12 28 9 9.2 29 4.4
flex-shrink 11 12 28 9 9.2 29 4.4
flex-basis 11* 12 28 9 9.2 29 4.4
flex 11 12 28 9 9.2 29 4.4

* See note at chnsa.ws/1ii

flex-basis:

auto 11 12 18 7 7 22 Y
content Ð 12* 61 Ð Ð Ð Ð
max-content Ð Ð 66 Ð Ð Ð Ð
min-content Ð Ð 66 Ð Ð Ð Ð

* No longer supported as of 79!

References
Click on a declaration to select it
Select multiple declarations
Now click on .container (or .item)
⌘C/Ctrl+C (click anywhere to reset)
Techniques
Tag Cloud
By using Flexbox, items grow to Þll the width of the
container so you can avoid a ragged edge on the right
What if each of the terms is linked?
We set display: contents on the <li>
because we only care about placing the
<a>s
Sticky Footer
Media Objects
WeÕre
going to
make
this in
class if
we have
time
Cards
WeÕre going to make this in class if we have time
Thank you!

scott@granneman.com
www.granneman.com
ChainsawOnATireSwing.com
@scottgranneman

jans@websanity.com
websanity.com
 CSS Flexbox
Flexible, Robust Line-Based Layout

R. Scott Granneman r Jans Carton

© 2017 R. Scott Granneman

Last updated 2023-10-23
You are free to use this work, with certain restrictions.
3.7 For full licensing information, please see the last slide/page.
Changelog

2023-10-23 3.7: Updated compatibility table for safe &

unsafe
Changelog

2022-10-14 3.6: Added Flexbox cheatsheet to

References; added screenshots for column-gap, row-gap,
& gap

2021-05-07 3.5: Updated W3C spec screenshot; in initial

diagrams of terms, added diagrams assuming flex-
direction: column; created Terms section; updated
Triggering Flexbox Layout section; added example for
flex: 1 1 0; few more details about place-content
Changelog

2021-05-07 3.4: Converted theme to Granneman 1.7;

Þxed minor formatting issues

2020-07-23 3.3: Added dotted line to screenshot for

justify-content: space-around; updated
screenshots for Sticky Footer; converted to Granneman
1.6; Þxed all formatting errors; added slides on using
ßexbox with items using <a> in Tag Cloud
Changelog

2020-07-21 3.2: Moved some slides from Examples to

References; changed Examples to Techniques; added new
examples to Techniques

2020-07-13 3.1: Changed subtitle

2020-07-10 3.0: (conÕt. from ↓) added new section

Scooby-Doo & The Dangers of Data Loss covering safe;
added new section Aligning via Writing Mode covering
start & end
Changelog

2020-07-10 3.0: Moved Flexbox out of CSS Layout into its

own slide deck; added diagram explaining basic Flexbox
ßow; completely re-did all screenshots; re-did almost all
compatibility charts; added new section Direction,
Wrapping, & Order; better examples for using multiple
flex-direction; created new section Aligning Lines &
Items; lots of warnings not to use width & height;
renamed Sources to References; added CSS-TricksÕ ÒA
Complete Guide to FlexboxÓ; added 2 assignments to
Examples; (conÕt. ↑)
Licensing of this work
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To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/.

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