Responsive grid in 2 minutes with CSS Grid Layout

Responsive grid in 2 minutes with CSS Grid Layout

Are you trying to build a grid of elements? If so, you’ve probably noticed one size doesn’t fit every screen size. The modern solution is a responsive grid that changes based on the size of the screen viewing it. Many developers jump to a web design framework for their responsive grid needs. But it might not be as hard as you think to code your own.

In a few lines of code, you can create something like this:

Let’s start with 12 “cards”.

<div class="card">ONE</div>
<div class="card">TWO</div>
<div class="card">THREE</div>
<div class="card">FOUR</div>
<div class="card">FIVE</div>
<div class="card">SIX</div>
<div class="card">SEVEN</div>
<div class="card">EIGHT</div>
<div class="card">NINE</div>
<div class="card">TEN</div>
<div class="card">ELEVEN</div>
<div class="card">TWELVE</div>

Add some basic styles.

html { font-size: 22px; }
body { padding: 1rem; }

.card {
  background-color: dodgerblue;
  color: white;
  padding: 1rem;
  height: 4rem;
}

I cropped the rest out, but you get the idea.I cropped the rest out, but you get the idea.

Add a parent element to contain the cards.

<div class="cards">
  <div class="card">ONE</div>
  <div class="card">TWO</div>
  <div class="card">THREE</div>
  <div class="card">FOUR</div>
  <div class="card">FIVE</div>
  <div class="card">SIX</div>
  <div class="card">SEVEN</div>
  <div class="card">EIGHT</div>
  <div class="card">NINE</div>
  <div class="card">TEN</div>
  <div class="card">ELEVEN</div>
  <div class="card">TWELVE</div>
</div>

Add a width, margin, and some CSS Grid Layout styles to the parent. The only change you’ll notice so far is the gap between elements.

.cards {
  max-width: 1200px;
  margin: 0 auto;
  display: grid;
  gap: 1rem;
}

And so on.And so on.

We’re coding for mobile first so we assume the user is using a small screen. That’s why the cards take up a whole row each (one column).

Now let’s make the cards responsive for larger screen sizes.

Is the screen larger than 600 pixels? Make it two columns.

@media (min-width: 600px) {
  .cards { grid-template-columns: repeat(2, 1fr); }
}

Is the screen larger than 900 pixels? Make it three columns.

@media (min-width: 900px) {
  .cards { grid-template-columns: repeat(3, 1fr); }
}

And it transforms as the screen size changes!

As you may have noticed, once the parent has display: grid, all the magic comes from adjusting grid-template-columns: repeat(NUM_COLUMNS, 1fr) for different media breakpoints (@media (min-width: SOME_WIDTH){}).

Bonus! Eliminating media queries with minmax()

In some cases, you may be able to avoid writing media queries by using minmax(). To see it in action, remove the media queries and add the following line to the .cards selector.

grid-template-columns: repeat(auto-fit, minmax(300px, 1fr));

The columns will automatically break when each one gets below 300px.