15/2/2021 A Complete Guide to Flexbox | CSS-Tricks

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A Complete Guide to Flexbox

Chris Coyier on Apr 8, 2013 (Updated on Dec 21, 2020)

Our comprehensive guide to CSS flexbox layout. This complete guide

explains everything about flexbox, focusing on all the different possible
properties for the parent element (the flex container) and the child elements
(the flex items). It also includes history, demos, patterns, and a browser
support chart.

▶ Background (#flexbox-background)

▶ Basics & Terminology (#flexbox-basics)

Get the poster!

Reference this guide a lot? Pin a copy up on the office wall.

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Properties for the Parent

(flex container)

display

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This defines a flex container; inline or block depending on the given value. It
enables a flex context for all its direct children.

CSS

.container {
display: flex; /* or inline-flex */
}

Note that CSS columns have no effect on a flex container.

flex-direction

This establishes the main-axis, thus defining the direction flex items are placed in
the flex container. Flexbox is (aside from optional wrapping) a single-direction
layout concept. Think of flex items as primarily laying out either in horizontal
rows or vertical columns.

CSS

.container {
flex-direction: row | row-reverse | column | column-reverse;
}

⦾ row (default): left to right in ltr ; right to left in rtl

⦾ row-reverse : right to left in ltr ; left to right in rtl
⦾ column : same as row but top to bottom
⦾ column-reverse : same as row-reverse but bottom to top

flex-wrap

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By default, flex items will all try to fit onto one line. You can change that and allow
the items to wrap as needed with this property.

CSS

.container {
flex-wrap: nowrap | wrap | wrap-reverse;
}

⦾ nowrap (default): all flex items will be on one line

⦾ wrap : flex items will wrap onto multiple lines, from top to bottom.
⦾ wrap-reverse : flex items will wrap onto multiple lines from bottom to top.

There are some visual demos of flex-wrap here (https://css-

tricks.com/almanac/properties/f/flex-wrap/) .

flex-flow
This is a shorthand for the flex-direction and flex-wrap properties, which
together define the flex container’s main and cross axes. The default value is row
nowrap .

CSS

.container {
flex-flow: column wrap;
}

justify-content

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This defines the alignment along the main axis. It helps distribute extra free space
leftover when either all the flex items on a line are inflexible, or are flexible but
have reached their maximum size. It also exerts some control over the alignment
of items when they overflow the line.

CSS

.container {
justify-content: flex-start | flex-end | center | space-between | space-around | space-ev
}

⦾ flex-start (default): items are packed toward the start of the flex-direction.
⦾ flex-end : items are packed toward the end of the flex-direction.
⦾ start : items are packed toward the start of the writing-mode direction.
⦾ end : items are packed toward the end of the writing-mode direction.
⦾ left : items are packed toward left edge of the container, unless that doesn’t
make sense with the flex-direction , then it behaves like start .
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⦾ right : items are packed toward right edge of the container, unless that doesn’t
make sense with the flex-direction , then it behaves like end .
⦾ center : items are centered along the line
⦾ space-between : items are evenly distributed in the line; first item is on the
start line, last item on the end line
⦾ space-around : items are evenly distributed in the line with equal space
around them. Note that visually the spaces aren’t equal, since all the items have
equal space on both sides. The first item will have one unit of space against the
container edge, but two units of space between the next item because that next
item has its own spacing that applies.
⦾ space-evenly : items are distributed so that the spacing between any two
items (and the space to the edges) is equal.

Note that that browser support for these values is nuanced. For example, space-
between never got support from some versions of Edge, and start/end/left/right
aren’t in Chrome yet. MDN has detailed charts (https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Web/CSS/justify-content) . The safest values are flex-start , flex-
end , and center .

There are also two additional keywords you can pair with these values: safe and
unsafe . Using safe ensures that however you do this type of positioning, you
can’t push an element such that it renders off-screen (e.g. off the top) in such a way
the content can’t be scrolled too (called “data loss”).

align-items

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This defines the default behavior for how flex items are laid out along the cross
axis on the current line. Think of it as the justify-content version for the
cross-axis (perpendicular to the main-axis).

CSS

.container {
align-items: stretch | flex-start | flex-end | center | baseline | first baseline | last
}

⦾ stretch (default): stretch to fill the container (still respect min-width/max-

width)
⦾ flex-start / start / self-start : items are placed at the start of the cross
axis. The difference between these is subtle, and is about respecting the flex-
direction rules or the writing-mode rules.
⦾ flex-end / end / self-end : items are placed at the end of the cross axis. The
difference again is subtle and is about respecting flex-direction rules vs.
writing-mode rules.
⦾ center : items are centered in the cross-axis
⦾ baseline : items are aligned such as their baselines align

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The safe and unsafe modifier keywords can be used in conjunction with all the
rest of these keywords (although note browser support
(https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/align-items) ), and deal
with helping you prevent aligning elements such that the content becomes
inaccessible.

align-content

This aligns a flex container’s lines within when there is extra space in the cross-
axis, similar to how justify-content aligns individual items within the main-
axis.

Hey! Note: This property only takes effect on multi-line flexible containers, where flex-flow is set to either
wrap or wrap-reverse ). A single-line flexible container (i.e. where flex-flow is set to its default value,
no-wrap ) will not reflect align-content .

CSS

.container {
align-content: flex-start | flex-end | center | space-between | space-around | space-even
}

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⦾ normal (default): items are packed in their default position as if no value was
set.
⦾ flex-start / start : items packed to the start of the container. The (more
supported) flex-start honors the flex-direction while start honors
the writing-mode direction.
⦾ flex-end / end : items packed to the end of the container. The (more support)
flex-end honors the flex-direction while end honors the writing-mode
direction.
⦾ center : items centered in the container
⦾ space-between : items evenly distributed; the first line is at the start of the
container while the last one is at the end
⦾ space-around : items evenly distributed with equal space around each line
⦾ space-evenly : items are evenly distributed with equal space around them
⦾ stretch : lines stretch to take up the remaining space

The safe and unsafe modifier keywords can be used in conjunction with all the
rest of these keywords (although note browser support
(https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/align-items) ), and deal
with helping you prevent aligning elements such that the content becomes
inaccessible.

Properties for the Children

(flex items)

order

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By default, flex items are laid out in the source order. However, the order
property controls the order in which they appear in the flex container.

CSS

.item {
order: 5; /* default is 0 */
}

flex-grow

This defines the ability for a flex item to grow if necessary. It accepts a unitless
value that serves as a proportion. It dictates what amount of the available space
inside the flex container the item should take up.

If all items have flex-grow set to 1, the remaining space in the container will be
distributed equally to all children. If one of the children has a value of 2, the
remaining space would take up twice as much space as the others (or it will try to,
at least).

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CSS

.item {
flex-grow: 4; /* default 0 */
}

Negative numbers are invalid.

flex-shrink
This defines the ability for a flex item to shrink if necessary.

CSS

.item {
flex-shrink: 3; /* default 1 */
}

Negative numbers are invalid.

flex-basis
This defines the default size of an element before the remaining space is
distributed. It can be a length (e.g. 20%, 5rem, etc.) or a keyword. The auto
keyword means “look at my width or height property” (which was temporarily
done by the main-size keyword until deprecated). The content keyword means
“size it based on the item’s content” – this keyword isn’t well supported yet, so it’s
hard to test and harder to know what its brethren max-content , min-content ,
and fit-content do.

CSS

.item {
flex-basis: | auto; /* default auto */
}

If set to 0 , the extra space around content isn’t factored in. If set to auto , the
extra space is distributed based on its flex-grow value. See this graphic.
(https://www.w3.org/TR/css3-flexbox/images/rel-vs-abs-flex.svg)

flex

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This is the shorthand for flex-grow, flex-shrink and flex-basis

combined. The second and third parameters ( flex-shrink and flex-basis )
are optional. The default is 0 1 auto , but if you set it with a single number value,
it’s like 1 0 .

CSS

.item {
flex: none | [ <'flex-grow'> <'flex-shrink'>? || <'flex-basis'> ]
}

It is recommended that you use this shorthand property rather than set the
individual properties. The shorthand sets the other values intelligently.

align-self

This allows the default alignment (or the one specified by align-items ) to be
overridden for individual flex items.

Please see the align-items explanation to understand the available values.

CSS

.item {
align-self: auto | flex-start | flex-end | center | baseline | stretch;
}

Note that float , clear and vertical-align have no effect on a flex item.

▶ Examples (#flexbox-examples)

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▶ Prefixing Flexbox (#flexbox-sass)

▶ Related Properties (#flexbox-related)

▶ Other Resources (#flexbox-resources)

▶ Bugs (#flexbox-bugs)

Browser Support
Broken up by “version” of flexbox:

⦾ (new) means the recent syntax from the specification (e.g. display: flex; )
⦾ (tweener) means an odd unofficial syntax from 2011 (e.g. display: flexbox; )
⦾ (old) means the old syntax from 2009 (e.g. display: box; )

Chrome Safari Firefox Opera IE Edge Android iOS

20- (old) 3.1+ (old) 2-21 (old) 10 (tweener) 2.1+ (old) 3.2+ (old)
12.1+ (new) 17+ (new)
21+ (new) 6.1+ (new) 22+ (new) 11+ (new) 4.4+ (new) 7.1+ (new)

Blackberry browser 10+ supports the new syntax.

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