freeCodeCamp/guide/english/css/css3-flexible-box/index.md

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CSS3 Flexible Box

CSS3 Flexible Box

The Flexbox model provides for an efficient way to layout, align, and distribute space among elements within your documenteven when the viewport and the size of your elements is dynamic or unknown.

The most important idea behind the Flexbox model is that the parent container can alter its items' width/height/order to best fill the available space. A flex container expands items to fill available free space, or shrinks them to prevent overflow.1

Basic usage

Flexbox can be used to center any amount of given elements inside one element. A basic example of this is the following code:

.center-elements-inside {
  display: flex;
  flex-direction: row;
  justify-content: center;
}

Let's break down this example. First we set the display property to "flex" so we can apply our flexbox properties. Next we declare the way flexbox will handle our elements. This can either be in a row, or in a column. Setting it to row will align the elements horizontal inside the element. The column will align them vertical.

Now lets have a short look at "justify-content". This property declares how elements are distributed inside the parent element. We chose the "center" value. This means all elements inside this element will be centered.

More Information:

To get a complete understanding of Flexbox, read Understanding Flexbox Everything you need to know on the FreeCodeCamp Medium page.

For an interactive guide go through The Ultimate Guide to FlexboxLearning Through Examples

Both of these are great resources by Ohans Emmanuel.

Yet another great visual guide that is in-depth but easy to follow can be found in A Guide to Flexbox by CSS-Tricks

Sources

  1. Coyier, Chris. "A Complete Guide to Flexbox" CSS-Tricks. Last updated on September 28, 2017.