Joy Shaheb

Posted on Jan 10, 2021 • Updated on May 27, 2021 • Originally published at freecodecamp.org

Complete Flexbox Tutorial w/ Cheat Sheet

#css #webdev #beginners #tutorial

Let's refresh Our CSS Flexbox Memory. Here's a Tutorial & Cheat Sheet of everything you can do with CSS flexbox. Let's Go 🎖️

The original Article at FreeCodeCamp

Table of Contents --

FlexBox Architecture
flex-direction
justify-content
align-content
align-items
align-self
flex - grow | shrink | wrap | basis
Short Hands
Conclusion

You can watch this tutorial on YouTube as well if you like:

FlexBox Architecture

So how does Flexbox architecture work? The flex-items [Contents] are distributed along the Main Axis and Cross Axis. And, depending on the flex-direction property, the layout position changes between rows and columns.

FlexBox Chart --

This chart contains every possible property and value you can use when using flexbox. You can reference it while doing the project and experiment with different values.

How to Set Up the Project

For this project, you need to know little bit of HTML, CSS, and how to work with VS code. Follow along with me ->

Create a folder named "Project-1" & Open VS Code
Create index.html & style.css files
Install Live Server & Run Live Server.

Or, you can just open Codepen & start coding.

At the end of this tutorial, you can make website layouts more accurately.

HTML

In HTML, write these lines of code inside the body tag 👇

<div class="container">
    <div class="box-1"> A </div>
    <div class="box-2"> B </div>
    <div class="box-3"> C </div>
</div>

CSS

target the .container class & all the boxes. Then style the boxes so that all of them looks similar. Like this 👇

Note : don't forget to put the height of the container.

.container{
   height : 100vh;
}

[class ^="box-"]{
    width: 140px;
    height: 140px;
    background-color: skyblue;
    border: 2px solid black;

// To view the letter better
    font-size: 65px;
}

But Wait....

Before starting, you need to understand the relationship between parent & child classes.

Flexbox works on the parent class, not on the children classes.

Here, the .container class is the parent & our .box-* classes are our children.

so, apply the display: flex inside .container class. And place the letters at the center of the box like this ->

.container{
    display : flex;
    height : 100vh;

// To place some gap between boxes
    gap : 25px;
}
[class ^="box-"]{
// Code from previous step are here

// Placing text at center 
    display : flex;
    justify-content : center;
    align-items : center;
}

And.... we're all set! Let's start coding. 😊

flex-direction

The Direction/Orientation in which flex-items are distributed inside flex-container.

To recreate these results, Let's write on CSS These lines ->

Note : We'll write inside .container class

.container{
//code from setup stage are here

// Change the value  👇 here to see results
    flex-direction : row;
}

justify-content

This property arranges flex-items along the MAIN AXIS inside the flex-container

To recreate these results, Write on CSS These lines ->

.container{
//code from setup stage are here

//  Change the value  👇 here to see results
    justify-content: flex-start;
}

align-content

This property arranges flex-items along the CROSS AXIS inside the flex-container. This is similar to justify-content

Please note that, without the flex-wrap property, this property doesn't work, here's the demo ->

.container{

//  Change the value  👇 here to see results
    align-content: center;

// without this line, align-content won't work
    flex-wrap: wrap;
}

align-items

This property distributes Flex-items along the Cross Axis

To recreate these results, Let's write on CSS ->

.container{
//code from setup stage are here

// Change the value 👇 here to see results
    align-items: flex-end;
}

align-self

This property works on the children classes. It positions the selected item along the Cross Axis

In total we have 6 values

flex-start
flex-end
center
baseline
stretch
auto

To recreate the results, select any .box-* & write

.box-2{
// Change the value 👇 here to see results
     align-self : center;
}

flex - grow | shrink | wrap | basis

The properties that we're discussing right now will work when we resize the window. Let's dive right in.

flex-grow : grows the size of a flex-item based on width of the flex-container.
flex-shrink : The ability for a flex item to shrink based on width of the flex-container. Opposite of flex-grow.

To achieve these results, follow me ->

Please Note : flex-grow & flex-shrink works on children classes. So, we will target all our boxes ->

.box-1{
    flex-grow: 1;
}
.box-2{
    flex-grow: 5;
}
.box-1{
    flex-grow: 1;
}

Resize the window & see the results.

To duplicate result of flex-shrink, write ->

Please note : Delete the flex-wrap property, otherwise it won't work.

.box-1{
    flex-shrink: 1;
}
.box-2{
    flex-shrink: 5;
}
.box-1{
    flex-shrink: 1;
}

Now, Resize the window & see the results.

flex-wrap : Amount of Flex-item you want in a line/row.

This works on the .container parent class. So, write ->

.container{
    //other codes are here 

// Change value 👇 here to see results
    flex-wrap : wrap;

flex-basis : This is similar to adding width to a flex-item, but only more flexible. flex-basis: 10em; it will set the initial size of a flex-item to 10em. Its final size will be based on available space, flex-grow, and flex-shrink.

Short Hands

flex : It is a shorthand to flex-grow, flex-shrink and flex-basis combined.

You can try this by writing ->

Please Note : It only works on the children classes

.box-2{
    flex : 2 1 30em;
}

flex-flow : Short hand to flex-direction & flex-wrap

You can try this by writing ->

Please Note : It only works on the parent class

.container{
    flex-flow : row wrap;
}

place-content

This is the shorthand of justify-content & align-content

Let's duplicate the results

Note : It works on the parent class

.container{
    place-content : center flex-end;
}

Credits

Kitty Avatars

Master CSS Flexbox 2021 🔥- Build 5 Responsive Layouts🎖️|| CSS 2021

Joy Shaheb ・ Feb 4 ・ 5 min read

#css #tutorial #beginners #webdev

Acing CSS Grid Model in 2021 with 5 Exercises || CSS 2021 🔥

Joy Shaheb ・ Dec 22 '20 ・ 6 min read

#tutorial #beginners #webdev #css

Conclusion

Here's Your Medal For reading till the end ❤️

Suggestions & Criticisms Are Highly Appreciated ❤️

YouTube / Joy Shaheb
Twitter / JoyShaheb
Instagram / JoyShaheb

Discussion (85)

Chad Alen • Jan 10 '21 • Edited on Jan 18

This tool is awesome. Makes flexbox easy to understand. I use it alot.
demos.scotch.io/visual-guide-to-cs...

James Thomson • Jan 11 '21

Nice. This is also a good one: https://progressivered.com/fla/?d=0&v=1&h=1&s=0&i=000&a=000#playground

James Thomson • Jan 11 '21

This is also good for beginners to see how common components can be structured. flexboxpatterns.com/

ca969 • Jan 11 '21

Wow, that's a really good resource. Thank you for sharing.

Joy Shaheb • Jan 11 '21

Most welcome ❤️

Comment deleted

Joy Shaheb • Jan 10 '21

A legend made this software, thank you for sharing this 🏅🙏

Kyril • Jan 10 '21

Thanks

Comment deleted

Ronaldo Hoch • Jan 10 '21

Niiiice!
Why not this is a PWA?

Madza • Jan 10 '21

nice visuals, may I ask what you used? 👀

Joy Shaheb • Jan 10 '21

I took Images from Flaticon.com
I gave them credits before conclusion part

Madza • Jan 10 '21

Awesome, thanks! 🙏❤

Bashar Ayyash • Jan 14 '21

Can you please tell me whats the name of icons pack you used? I am a member at Flaticon, I liked the icons you used.

qq449245884 • Jan 16 '21

Dear Joy Shaheb， may I translate your article into Chinese?I would like to share it with more developers in China. I will give the original author and original source.

Joy Shaheb • Jan 16 '21

Sure. Best of luck ❤️🎖️

qq449245884 • Jan 16 '21

Thank You Very Much！

Jamie Nordmeyer • Jan 12 '21

Awesome reference. Thanks for this!

Rehan Jamali • Jan 14 '21

Thank you sir... that's cool..but could I download or save it offline?? Bcz I have some Net issues

Joy Shaheb • Jan 14 '21

Sure,

Rehan Jamali • Jan 14 '21

How could I download it offline?

Joy Shaheb • Jan 14 '21

Click on the image. Then download/save it/ take screenshots

Kyril • Jan 10 '21

Thank you for sharing this.

Joy Shaheb • Jan 11 '21

Most welcome ❤️

Comment deleted

Joy Shaheb • Jan 11 '21

Thank you ❤️

Matías Bustos • Jan 10 '21

Really good job! Thank you. It would be amazing if you could do something similar about Grids 😊

Joy Shaheb • Jan 11 '21

Thank you for the well wishes. I'll think about Grids in future. Till then, stay tuned ❤️

E.R. Nurwijayadi • Jan 19 '21

Nice cheat.
Nice chat.
Nice cat.

Joy Shaheb • Jan 19 '21

This is epic man 🤣🤣
Take medals 🏅🏅

Kellie • Jun 3 '21

Awesome, i just learnt place-content...👍🏿

anthony-grear • Apr 2 '21

This is very good content. Well done!

Temani Afif • Mar 29 '21

note that order can be used with negative values

Dumte • Feb 25 '21

This tool makes me feel happy and confident. When next I will use my flexbox now, no more struggling with positioning child elements

Toqeer Abbas • Jan 31 '21

youtube.com/watch?v=OZk0rHtLnd8&t=...?

Robin Kartikeya Khatri • Jan 19 '21

Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful resource.

Joy Shaheb • Jan 19 '21

Most welcome. In future , I'm planning to create a cheat sheet for CSS Grid model as well, Till then , stay tuned & take care ❤️

Felix G • Jan 18 '21

Thanks for that! I love flex box but sometimes I hate it as well. But this cheat sheet gets a nice overview and hopefully reduces by frustration in the future.

Joy Shaheb • Jan 18 '21

Most welcome Felix,
You can follow me along if you're interested to get more contents like these in future.

Abdullah Arık • Jan 14 '21

Why we use flexbox or grid? What do you think of this?

Joy Shaheb • Jan 15 '21

Both of them are different type of Architecture. & they have the ability to produce the same results. It totally depends on the developer which architecture he/she likes to follow.