I have a simple div (grid layout but the same would apply to flexbox), which shows three different text elements.
The problem is that whenever my html's dir attribute is set to rtl, the order of the grid items changes, and I'd like to be able to prevent that change in that specific case (where content order is not based on writing direction, but for semantic value.
For example's sake, here's what my items look like:
let direction = 'rtl';
document.getElementById('toggle-direction').addEventListener('click', () => {
direction = direction === 'rtl' ? 'ltr' : 'rtl';
document.documentElement.setAttribute('dir', direction);
});
.container {
display: grid;
grid-template-rows: 1fr;
grid-template-columns: repeat(3, 1fr);
border-radius: 5px;
padding: 10px;
}
.left-arrow {
grid-column: 1 / 2;
grid-row: 1 / 2;
margin-inline-end: auto;
}
.center-content {
grid-row: 1 / 2;
grid-column: 2 / 3;
text-align: center;
}
.right-arrow {
grid-row: 1 / 2;
grid-column: 3 / 4;
margin-inline-start: auto;
}
#toggle-direction {
grid-row: 2 / 3;
grid-column: 1 / 4;
}
<div class="container">
<span class="left-arrow"><</span>
<span class="center-content">Center content</span>
<span class="right-arrow">></span>
<button id="toggle-direction">Toggle direction</button>
</div>
PS: I could add direction: ltr; to the .container selector, but that would create an undesired styling, since I want to use inline-oriented styling.
Is my understanding you only want the arrows to keep their orientation.
So you should isolate and wrap the elements you want the direction to consistent in containers with consistent flow direction (and put everything you want to update outside that containers) like so :
let direction = 'rtl';
document.getElementById('toggle-direction').addEventListener('click', () => {
direction = direction === 'rtl' ? 'ltr' : 'rtl';
document.documentElement.setAttribute('dir', direction);
});
.container {
display: grid;
grid-template-rows: 1fr;
grid-template-columns: repeat(3, 1fr);
}
.ltr {
direction: ltr;
}
.left-arrow {
grid-column: 1 / 2;
text-align: center;
}
.center-content {
grid-column: 2 / 3;
text-align: center;
}
.right-arrow {
grid-column: 3 / 4;
text-align: center;
}
#toggle-direction {
grid-column: 1 / 4;
}
<!-- inherit direction flow -->
<div class="container ltr">
<!-- ltr direction flow -->
<p class="left-arrow">Left arrow</p>
<p class="center-content">Center content</p>
<p class="right-arrow">Right arrow</p>
</div>
<div class="container">
<!-- inherit direction flow -->
<button id="toggle-direction">Toggle direction</button>
</div>
Edits done: wrapped the first row you had inside the container in another container (class="colum rtl") that always has a direction.
Small css updates to keep the view.
Alternatively you could place the arrows container inside the container with the button. But in order to have consistent rtl direction you will need to wrap them there in a container (with class="rtl") and you need a little more updates to your css to keep the aspect.
Alternatively if there is really no way for you to isolate all the components you need to have consistent direction you could for some specific cases create a class class="inherit-direction" (for example) and in your js, when you change the direction of the document, change the containers direction with that class as well (document.getElementsByClassName("inherit-direction") and iterate trough them).
But I would strongly advise to use this last option only as last measure and limit the number of uses as much as possible.
Say you have the following data points that are dumped from a database or file, the size of each item representing the amount of something (hours, pizzas, whatever)...
And you would like to organize the data into categories like so using CSS...
How would you do it?
I tried the grid shepard method using grid-rowbut get this instead...
Thanks!
P.S. follow up question... My intuition is that CSS would be faster than JS (...moving each item into the appropriate flexbox that could then sort row members horizontally). Is that true? Is CSS likely to be faster in a dataset of possibly thousands of elements?
You can use the flexbox with order.
This is a guide for the flexbox: https://css-tricks.com/snippets/css/a-guide-to-flexbox/
check this sample:
.wrapper {
display: flex;
flex-flow: row wrap;
}
.wrapper > * {
padding: 10px;
flex: 1 0 100%;
}
.o-1,.o-3,.o-5,.o-7 {
background: gold;
}
.o-2,.o-4,.o-6 {
background: hotpink;
}
.o-1 { order: 1; }
.o-2 { order: 2; }
.o-3 { order: 3; }
.o-4 { order: 4; }
.o-5 { order: 5; }
.o-6 { order: 6; }
.o-7 { order: 7; }
<div class="wrapper">
<aside class="o-1">1</aside>
<aside class="o-3">3</aside>
<aside class="o-2">2</aside>
<aside class="o-4">4</aside>
<aside class="o-7">7</aside>
<aside class="o-5">5</aside>
<aside class="o-6">6</aside>
</div>
Here is an example chat app ->
The idea here is to have the .messages-container take up as much of the screen as it can. Within .messages-container, .scroll holds the list of messages, and in case there are more messages then the size of the screen, scrolls.
Now, consider this case:
The user scrolls to the bottom of the conversation
The .text-input, dynamically gets bigger
Now, instead of the user staying scrolled to the bottom of the conversation, the text-input increases, and they no longer see the bottom.
One way to fix it, if we are using react, calculate the height of text-input, and if anything changes, let .messages-container know
componentDidUpdate() {
window.setTimeout(_ => {
const newHeight = this.calcHeight();
if (newHeight !== this._oldHeight) {
this.props.onResize();
}
this._oldHeight = newHeight;
});
}
But, this causes visible performance issues, and it's sad to be passing messages around like this.
Is there a better way? Could I use css in such a way, to express that when .text-input-increases, I want to essentially shift up all of .messages-container
2:nd revision of this answer
Your friend here is flex-direction: column-reverse; which does all you ask while align the messages at the bottom of the message container, just like for example Skype and many other chat apps do.
.chat-window{
display:flex;
flex-direction:column;
height:100%;
}
.chat-messages{
flex: 1;
height:100%;
overflow: auto;
display: flex;
flex-direction: column-reverse;
}
.chat-input { border-top: 1px solid #999; padding: 20px 5px }
.chat-input-text { width: 60%; min-height: 40px; max-width: 60%; }
The downside with flex-direction: column-reverse; is a bug in IE/Edge/Firefox, where the scrollbar doesn't show, which your can read more about here: Flexbox column-reverse and overflow in Firefox/IE
The upside is you have ~ 90% browser support on mobile/tablets and ~ 65% for desktop, and counting as the bug gets fixed, ...and there is a workaround.
// scroll to bottom
function updateScroll(el){
el.scrollTop = el.scrollHeight;
}
// only shift-up if at bottom
function scrollAtBottom(el){
return (el.scrollTop + 5 >= (el.scrollHeight - el.offsetHeight));
}
In the below code snippet I've added the 2 functions from above, to make IE/Edge/Firefox behave in the same way flex-direction: column-reverse; does.
function addContent () {
var msgdiv = document.getElementById('messages');
var msgtxt = document.getElementById('inputs');
var atbottom = scrollAtBottom(msgdiv);
if (msgtxt.value.length > 0) {
msgdiv.innerHTML += msgtxt.value + '<br/>';
msgtxt.value = "";
} else {
msgdiv.innerHTML += 'Long long content ' + (tempCounter++) + '!<br/>';
}
/* if at bottom and is IE/Edge/Firefox */
if (atbottom && (!isWebkit || isEdge)) {
updateScroll(msgdiv);
}
}
function resizeInput () {
var msgdiv = document.getElementById('messages');
var msgtxt = document.getElementById('inputs');
var atbottom = scrollAtBottom(msgdiv);
if (msgtxt.style.height == '120px') {
msgtxt.style.height = 'auto';
} else {
msgtxt.style.height = '120px';
}
/* if at bottom and is IE/Edge/Firefox */
if (atbottom && (!isWebkit || isEdge)) {
updateScroll(msgdiv);
}
}
/* fix for IE/Edge/Firefox */
var isWebkit = ('WebkitAppearance' in document.documentElement.style);
var isEdge = ('-ms-accelerator' in document.documentElement.style);
var tempCounter = 6;
function updateScroll(el){
el.scrollTop = el.scrollHeight;
}
function scrollAtBottom(el){
return (el.scrollTop + 5 >= (el.scrollHeight - el.offsetHeight));
}
html, body { height:100%; margin:0; padding:0; }
.chat-window{
display:flex;
flex-direction:column;
height:100%;
}
.chat-messages{
flex: 1;
height:100%;
overflow: auto;
display: flex;
flex-direction: column-reverse;
}
.chat-input { border-top: 1px solid #999; padding: 20px 5px }
.chat-input-text { width: 60%; min-height: 40px; max-width: 60%; }
/* temp. buttons for demo */
button { width: 12%; height: 44px; margin-left: 5%; vertical-align: top; }
/* begin - fix for hidden scrollbar in IE/Edge/Firefox */
.chat-messages-text{ overflow: auto; }
#media screen and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio:0) {
.chat-messages-text{ overflow: visible; }
/* reset Edge as it identifies itself as webkit */
#supports (-ms-accelerator:true) { .chat-messages-text{ overflow: auto; } }
}
/* hide resize FF */
#-moz-document url-prefix() { .chat-input-text { resize: none } }
/* end - fix for hidden scrollbar in IE/Edge/Firefox */
<div class="chat-window">
<div class="chat-messages">
<div class="chat-messages-text" id="messages">
Long long content 1!<br/>
Long long content 2!<br/>
Long long content 3!<br/>
Long long content 4!<br/>
Long long content 5!<br/>
</div>
</div>
<div class="chat-input">
<textarea class="chat-input-text" placeholder="Type your message here..." id="inputs"></textarea>
<button onclick="addContent();">Add msg</button>
<button onclick="resizeInput();">Resize input</button>
</div>
</div>
Side note 1: The detection method is not fully tested, but it should work on newer browsers.
Side note 2: Attach a resize event handler for the chat-input might be more efficient then calling the updateScroll function.
Note: Credits to HaZardouS for reusing his html structure
You just need one CSS rule set:
.messages-container, .scroll {transform: scale(1,-1);}
That's it, you're done!
How it works: First, it vertically flips the container element so that the top becomes the bottom (giving us the desired scroll orientation), then it flips the content element so that the messages won't be upside down.
This approach works in all modern browsers. It does have a strange side effect, though: when you use a mouse wheel in the message box, the scroll direction is reversed. This can be fixed with a few lines of JavaScript, as shown below.
Here's a demo and a fiddle to play with:
//Reverse wheel direction
document.querySelector('.messages-container').addEventListener('wheel', function(e) {
if(e.deltaY) {
e.preventDefault();
e.currentTarget.scrollTop -= e.deltaY;
}
});
//The rest of the JS just handles the test buttons and is not part of the solution
send = function() {
var inp = document.querySelector('.text-input');
document.querySelector('.scroll').insertAdjacentHTML('beforeend', '<p>' + inp.value);
inp.value = '';
inp.focus();
}
resize = function() {
var inp = document.querySelector('.text-input');
inp.style.height = inp.style.height === '50%' ? null : '50%';
}
html,body {height: 100%;margin: 0;}
.conversation {
display: flex;
flex-direction: column;
height: 100%;
}
.messages-container {
flex-shrink: 10;
height: 100%;
overflow: auto;
}
.messages-container, .scroll {transform: scale(1,-1);}
.text-input {resize: vertical;}
<div class="conversation">
<div class="messages-container">
<div class="scroll">
<p>Message 1<p>Message 2<p>Message 3<p>Message 4<p>Message 5
<p>Message 6<p>Message 7<p>Message 8<p>Message 9<p>Message 10<p>Message 11<p>Message 12<p>Message 13<p>Message 14<p>Message 15<p>Message 16<p>Message 17<p>Message 18<p>Message 19<p>Message 20
</div>
</div>
<textarea class="text-input" autofocus>Your message</textarea>
<div>
<button id="send" onclick="send();">Send input</button>
<button id="resize" onclick="resize();">Resize input box</button>
</div>
</div>
Edit: thanks to #SomeoneSpecial for suggesting a simplification to the scroll code!
Please try the following fiddle - https://jsfiddle.net/Hazardous/bypxg25c/. Although the fiddle is currently using jQuery to grow/resize the text area, the crux is in the flex related styles used for the messages-container and input-container classes -
.messages-container{
order:1;
flex:0.9 1 auto;
overflow-y:auto;
display:flex;
flex-direction:row;
flex-wrap:nowrap;
justify-content:flex-start;
align-items:stretch;
align-content:stretch;
}
.input-container{
order:2;
flex:0.1 0 auto;
}
The flex-shrink value is set to 1 for .messages-container and 0 for .input-container. This ensures that messages-container shrinks when there is a reallocation of size.
I've moved text-input within messages, absolute positioned it to the bottom of the container and given messages enough bottom padding to space accordingly.
Run some code to add a class to conversation, which changes the height of text-input and bottom padding of messages using a nice CSS transition animation.
The JavaScript runs a "scrollTo" function at the same time as the CSS transition is running to keep the scroll at the bottom.
When the scroll comes off the bottom again, we remove the class from conversation
Hope this helps.
https://jsfiddle.net/cnvzLfso/5/
var doScollCheck = true;
var objConv = document.querySelector('.conversation');
var objMessages = document.querySelector('.messages');
var objInput = document.querySelector('.text-input');
function scrollTo(element, to, duration) {
if (duration <= 0) {
doScollCheck = true;
return;
}
var difference = to - element.scrollTop;
var perTick = difference / duration * 10;
setTimeout(function() {
element.scrollTop = element.scrollTop + perTick;
if (element.scrollTop === to) {
doScollCheck = true;
return;
}
scrollTo(element, to, duration - 10);
}, 10);
}
function resizeInput(atBottom) {
var className = 'bigger',
hasClass;
if (objConv.classList) {
hasClass = objConv.classList.contains(className);
} else {
hasClass = new RegExp('(^| )' + className + '( |$)', 'gi').test(objConv.className);
}
if (atBottom) {
if (!hasClass) {
doScollCheck = false;
if (objConv.classList) {
objConv.classList.add(className);
} else {
objConv.className += ' ' + className;
}
scrollTo(objMessages, (objMessages.scrollHeight - objMessages.offsetHeight) + 50, 500);
}
} else {
if (hasClass) {
if (objConv.classList) {
objConv.classList.remove(className);
} else {
objConv.className = objConv.className.replace(new RegExp('(^|\\b)' + className.split(' ').join('|') + '(\\b|$)', 'gi'), ' ');
}
}
}
}
objMessages.addEventListener('scroll', function() {
if (doScollCheck) {
var isBottom = ((this.scrollHeight - this.offsetHeight) === this.scrollTop);
resizeInput(isBottom);
}
});
html,
body {
height: 100%;
width: 100%;
background: white;
}
body {
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
}
.conversation {
display: flex;
flex-direction: column;
justify-content: space-between;
height: 100%;
position: relative;
}
.messages {
overflow-y: scroll;
padding: 10px 10px 60px 10px;
-webkit-transition: padding .5s;
-moz-transition: padding .5s;
transition: padding .5s;
}
.text-input {
padding: 10px;
-webkit-transition: height .5s;
-moz-transition: height .5s;
transition: height .5s;
position: absolute;
bottom: 0;
height: 50px;
background: white;
}
.conversation.bigger .messages {
padding-bottom: 110px;
}
.conversation.bigger .text-input {
height: 100px;
}
.text-input input {
height: 100%;
}
<div class="conversation">
<div class="messages">
<p>
This is a message content
</p>
<p>
This is a message content
</p>
<p>
This is a message content
</p>
<p>
This is a message content
</p>
<p>
This is a message content
</p>
<p>
This is a message content
</p>
<p>
This is a message content
</p>
<p>
This is a message content
</p>
<p>
This is a message content
</p>
<p>
This is a message content
</p>
<p>
This is a message content
</p>
<p>
This is a message content
</p>
<p>
This is a message content
</p>
<p>
This is a message content
</p>
<p>
This is the last message
</p>
<div class="text-input">
<input type="text" />
</div>
</div>
</div>
You write;
Now, consider this case:
The user scrolls to the bottom of the conversation
The .text-input, dynamically gets bigger
Wouldn't the method that dynamically sets the .text-input be the logical place to fire this.props.onResize().
To whom it may concern,
The answers above did not suffice my question.
The solution I found was to make my innerWidth and innerHeight variable constant - as the innerWidth of the browser changes on scroll to adapt for the scrollbar.
var innerWidth = window.innerWidth
var innerHeight = window.innerHeight
OR FOR REACT
this.setState({width: window.innerWidth, height: window.innerHeight})
In other words, to ignore it, you must make everything constant as if it were never scrolling. Do remember to update these on Resize / Orientation Change !
IMHO current answer is not a correct one:
1/ flex-direction: column-reverse; reverses the order of messages - I didn't want that.
2/ javascript there is also a bit hacky and obsolete
If you want to make it like a PRO use spacer-box which has properties:
flex-grow: 1;
flex-basis: 0;
and is located above messages. It pushes them down to the chat input.
When user is typing new messages and input height is growing the scrollbar moves up, but when the message is sent (input is cleared) scrollbar is back at bottom.
Check my snippet:
body {
background: #ccc;
}
.chat {
display: flex;
flex-direction: column;
width: 300px;
max-height: 300px;
max-width: 90%;
background: #fff;
}
.spacer-box {
flex-basis: 0;
flex-grow: 1;
}
.messages {
display: flex;
flex-direction: column;
overflow-y: auto;
flex-grow: 1;
padding: 24px 24px 4px;
}
.footer {
padding: 4px 24px 24px;
}
#chat-input {
width: 100%;
max-height: 100px;
overflow-y: auto;
border: 1px solid pink;
outline: none;
user-select: text;
white-space: pre-wrap;
overflow-wrap: break-word;
}
<div class="chat">
<div class="messages">
<div class="spacer-box"></div>
<div class="message">1</div>
<div class="message">2</div>
<div class="message">3</div>
<div class="message">4</div>
<div class="message">5</div>
<div class="message">6</div>
<div class="message">7</div>
<div class="message">8</div>
<div class="message">9</div>
<div class="message">10</div>
<div class="message">11</div>
<div class="message">12</div>
<div class="message">13</div>
<div class="message">14</div>
<div class="message">15</div>
<div class="message">16</div>
<div class="message">17</div>
<div class="message">18</div>
</div>
<div class="footer">
<div contenteditable role="textbox" id="chat-input"></div>
</div>
<div>
Hope I could help :)
Cheers
In a grid with two items, if I want the first item to be 50px and the second item to expand the full height, I can do this:
.grid { display: grid; grid-template-rows: 50px; }
.item1 {}
.item2 {}
<div class="grid">
<div class="item1">1</div>
<div class="item2">2</div>
</div>
However, if the content inside .item1 grows beyond 50px, how do I get the first row to expand?
I've tried a few different solutions, including minmax and using align-self to try to stretch item1 when needed, but it feels like I'm missing something obvious.
Here's a starter fiddle: https://jsfiddle.net/mehulkar/d8f25L0g/
Note, that if possible I would like to NOT have to add additional classes to change the grid configuration when the content grows.
Tell the first row to be at least 50px tall.
Tell the second row to consume remaining space in the container.
This should be all you need:
grid-template-rows: minmax(50px, auto) 1fr;
const button = document.querySelector('#expand');
let longString = 'item1 should expand. ';
for (var i = 0; i < 4; i++) {
longString += longString;
}
button.addEventListener('click', () => {
const item1 = document.querySelector('.item1');
if (button.innerText.match(/expand/i)) {
item1.innerHTML = longString;
button.innerText = "Collapse";
} else {
item1.innerHTML = "1";
button.innerText = "Expand";
}
});
.grid {
height: 100vh;
margin: 10px;
display: grid;
grid-template-rows: minmax(50px, auto) 1fr;
}
.grid > div {
border: solid 1px;
}
Try:
<button id="expand">Expand</button>
<div class="grid">
<div class="item1 y">1</div>
<div class="item2 r">2</div>
</div>
While using the old CSS grid spec that is supported by IE 11 and EDGE. Is it possible for the grid items to be auto placed like the current spec?
i.e. to not have to define the column on a grid item:
.item:nth-child(1) {
-ms-grid-column: 1;
}
.item:nth-child(2) {
-ms-grid-column: 2;
}
.item:nth-child(n) {
-ms-grid-column: n;
}
https://codepen.io/JoeHastings/pen/mMPoqB
The answer is NO (unfortunately).
Old specs section about auto-placement has such preamble
This section describes early thinking around automatic placement of Grid Items. Multiple algorithms are possible for such a feature. One is proposed here.
Run this code in IE/Edge and you'll see a lot of rows with 1 in console because IE/Edge stacks all grid items in first cell and you can't force IE/Edge to place grid items automatically. Setting -ms-grid-column and -ms-grid-row to auto won't change anything, because this value is not supported (as you can see in MSDN links). Demo:
var gridItems = document.querySelectorAll(".grid__item");
for (var i = 0; i < gridItems.length; i++) {
var gridItem = gridItems[i];
console.log(window.getComputedStyle(gridItem)["-ms-grid-row"]);
console.log(window.getComputedStyle(gridItem)["-ms-grid-column"]);
}
.grid {
display: -ms-grid;
-ms-grid-columns: 100px 100px 100px;
-ms-grid-rows: 100px 100px 100px;
}
.grid__item {
-ms-grid-row: auto;
-ms-grid-column: auto;
background-color: tomato;
color: white;
font-size: 20px;
display: flex;
align-items: center;
justify-content: center;
}
<div class="grid">
<div class="grid__item">One</div>
<div class="grid__item">Two</div>
<div class="grid__item">Three</div>
<div class="grid__item">Four</div>
<div class="grid__item">Five</div>
<div class="grid__item">Six</div>
<div class="grid__item">Seven</div>
<div class="grid__item">Eight</div>
<div class="grid__item">Nine</div>
</div>