The Ultimate Guide to CSS Grid: A Comprehensive Tutorial

Published on April 15, 2022

Introduction

CSS Grid is a powerful layout system that allows you to create complex and flexible grid layouts with ease. In this post, we will explore the basics of CSS Grid and how it can be used to create responsive and modern web design.

What is CSS Grid?

CSS Grid is a two-dimensional layout system that divides an element’s content area into rows and columns. It provides a flexible and powerful way to organize elements within a container, allowing you to create complex and responsive grid layouts with ease.

Basic CSS Grid Concepts

There are several key concepts to understand when working with CSS Grid:

Grid Container: The parent element that contains the grid. This is the element that we set the display property of to grid.
Grid Items: The child elements within the grid container. These are the elements that we set the display property of to grid-item.
Grid Tracks: The rows and columns within the grid. These are created by the grid container and can be used to create a grid layout with rows and columns.
Grid Gaps: The spaces between grid items. We can set the gap property of the grid container to create gaps between grid items.
Grid Alignment: The way that elements are aligned within the grid. We can use the justify-items, align-items, and place-items properties to align elements within the grid.

Creating a Grid Layout

To create a basic grid layout, we need to set the display property of the container element to grid. We can also set the number of rows and columns that we want in our grid using the grid-template-columns and grid-template-rows properties. For example:

.container {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: repeat(3, 1fr);
  grid-template-rows: repeat(2, 1fr);
}

This code creates a grid container with three columns and two rows, each of which takes up an equal amount of space within the container.

Grid Item Alignment

To align elements within the grid, we can use the justify-items, align-items, and place-items properties. For example:

.container {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: repeat(3, 1fr);
  grid-template-rows: repeat(2, 1fr);
  justify-items: center;
}

This code centers the elements within the grid horizontally. We can also use align-items to align the elements vertically within the grid, and place-items to align both horizontally and vertically.

Grid Gaps

To create gaps between grid items, we can set the gap property of the grid container. For example:

.container {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: repeat(3, 1fr);
  grid-template-rows: repeat(2, 1fr);
  gap: 20px;
}

This code creates a grid container with three columns and two rows, each of which takes up an equal amount of space within the container. The gaps between the grid items are set to 20px.

Responsive Grid Layouts

To create responsive grid layouts, we can use media queries to change the number of columns and rows in the grid based on the screen size. For example:

@media (max-width: 600px) {
  .container {
    grid-template-columns: repeat(2, 1fr);
    grid-template-rows: repeat(3, 1fr);
  }
}

This code sets the number of columns and rows in the grid to 2 and 3, respectively, when the screen size is less than or equal to 600px. This creates a responsive layout that adjusts the number of columns and rows based on the screen size.

Conclusion

CSS Grid is a powerful layout system that allows us to create complex and flexible grid layouts with ease. By understanding the basic concepts of CSS Grid, such as grid containers, grid items, grid tracks, grid gaps, and grid alignment, we can use it to create responsive and modern web design. In this post, we have explored the basics of CSS Grid and how it can be used to create a variety of layouts with ease.

Resources

Here are some resources that you may find helpful as you continue your journey in learning about CSS Grid: