Html - How to make elements follow a layout as more are added in css

BobsonTobson
June 22, 2024
181 views
0 votes
2 Answers

I have this layout:

I have a div where elements are added and removed dynamically. Is there a way to make them fit into the pattern shown in the image? There will never be more than 5 elements in the div at one time.

Answers

If you have a known maximum number of child elements you can specify positioning in a CSS-Grid based on the number of each specific child and how many it is from the end.

For instance 2nd of 3 is .child:is(:nth-child(2)):is(:nth-last-child(2))

..and so on. This does lead to a number of selectors for each child, for example in a 5 child box – item 2 needs 4 rules, items 3 needs 3, 4 needs 2 and 5 only one.

Here I have stuck to a 4 child example but the pattern remains the same.

body {
  display: flex;
  gap: .25em;
}

.container {
  height: 55vh;
  flex: 1;
  margin-right: .25em;
  outline: 2px solid red;
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: repeat(4, 1fr);
  grid-template-rows: repeat(4, 1fr);
  padding: .25em;
  gap: .25em;
}

.child {
  outline: 1px solid green;
  background: lightblue;
}

.child:first-child {
  grid-row: 1 / span 4;
  grid-column: 1 / span 4;
}


/* 1st child */

.child:nth-child(1):is(:nth-last-child(2)) {
  grid-row: 1 / span 4;
  grid-column: 1 / span 2;
}

.child:nth-child(1):is(:nth-last-child(4)),
.child:nth-child(1):is(:nth-last-child(3)) {
  grid-row: 1 / span 4;
  grid-column: 1 / span 2;
}


/* 2nd child */

.child:is(:nth-child(2)):is(:nth-last-child(1)) {
  grid-row: 1 / span 4;
  grid-column: 3 / span 4;
}

.child:is(:nth-child(2)):is(:nth-last-child(2)) {
  grid-row: 1 / span 2;
  grid-column: 3 / span 4;
}

.child:is(:nth-child(2)):is(:nth-last-child(3)) {
  grid-row: 1 / span 2;
  grid-column: 3 / span 2;
}


/* 3rd child */

.child:is(:nth-child(3)):is(:nth-last-child(1)) {
  grid-row: 3 / span 2;
  grid-column: 3 / span 4;
}

.child:is(:nth-child(3)):is(:nth-last-child(2)) {
  grid-row: 3 / span 2;
  grid-column: 3 / span 1;
}


/* 4th child */

.child:is(:nth-child(4)):is(:nth-last-child(1)) {
  grid-row: 3 / span 2;
  grid-column: 4 / span 1;
}


/* 5th child */

<div class="container">
  <div class="child">1</div>
</div>
<div class="container">
  <div class="child">1</div>
  <div class="child">2</div>
</div>
<div class="container">
  <div class="child">1</div>
  <div class="child">2</div>
  <div class="child">3</div>
</div>
<div class="container">
  <div class="child">1</div>
  <div class="child">2</div>
  <div class="child">3</div>
  <div class="child">4</div>
</div>

Actually you don’t need too much code

.container {
  width: 200px;
  height: 150px;
  margin: 5px;
  display: inline-grid; /* OR grid if you want*/
  grid-auto-flow: column; /* column flow */
  /* equal rows and columns */
  grid-auto-columns: 1fr;
  grid-auto-rows: 1fr;
  /**/
  gap: 5px;
}

.child {
  outline: 1px solid green;
  background: lightblue;
}

.container :nth-child(1):nth-last-child(n + 3) {
  grid-row: span 2;
}
.container :nth-child(2):nth-last-child(3),
.container :nth-child(1):nth-last-child(n + 4){
  grid-column: span 2;
}

<div class="container">
  <div class="child">1</div>
</div>
<div class="container">
  <div class="child">1</div>
  <div class="child">2</div>
</div>
<div class="container">
  <div class="child">1</div>
  <div class="child">2</div>
  <div class="child">3</div>
</div>
<div class="container">
  <div class="child">1</div>
  <div class="child">2</div>
  <div class="child">3</div>
  <div class="child">4</div>
</div>
<div class="container">
  <div class="child">1</div>
  <div class="child">2</div>
  <div class="child">3</div>
  <div class="child">4</div>
  <div class="child">5</div>
</div>

Related article to get more detail about the technique I am using above: https://css-tricks.com/exploring-css-grids-implicit-grid-and-auto-placement-powers/

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Html – How to make elements follow a layout as more are added in css

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