Grid wrapper

The grid wrapper pattern is useful for aligning grid content within a central wrapper, while also allowing items to break out and align to the edge of the containing element or page when desired.

Requirements

Items placed on the grid should be able to align to a horizontally-centered max-width wrapper and/or the outer edges of the grid.

Recipe

Choices made

This recipe uses the CSS Grid minmax() function to define the grid track sizes in the grid-template-columns property. For the central columns with a maximum width we can set a minimum value of 0 or greater and a maximum value that specifies the maximum size the column tracks will grow to. Using a numeric unit (pixels, ems, rems) will create a fixed maximum size for the central wrapper, whereas using percentage values or viewport units will mean this wrapper grows or shrinks in response to its context.

The outer two columns have a maximum size of 1fr, meaning that they will each expand to fill the remaining available space in the grid container.

Useful fallbacks or alternative methods

When using this recipe at page level it can be useful to set a max-width along with left and right auto margins to center the content horizontally:

.grid {
  max-width: 1200px;
  margin: 0 auto; // horizontally centers the container
}

/* Remove the max-width and margins if the browser supports Grid */
@supports (display: grid) {
  .grid {
    display: grid;
    /* Other grid code goes here */
    max-width: none;
    margin: 0;
  }
}

To β€œbreak out” a full-width item to the edge of the viewport you can then use this trick (courtesy of Una Kravets):

.item {
  width: 100vw;
  margin-left: 50%;
  transform: translate3d(-50%, 0, 0);
}

This gives a good approximation of the layout, only without the benefit of being able to align items easily on an exact grid.

Accessibility concerns

Although Grid enables us to position items anwhere (within reason), it is important when placing items using CSS Grid that your underlying markup follows a logical order (see CSS Grid layout and accessibility for more details).

Browser compatibility

The various layout methods have different browser support. See the charts below for details on basic support for the properties used.

grid-template-columns

DesktopMobile
ChromeEdgeFirefoxInternet ExplorerOperaSafariAndroid webviewChrome for AndroidFirefox for AndroidOpera for AndroidSafari on iOSSamsung Internet
grid-template-columnsChrome Full support 57
Full support 57
Full support 29
Disabled
Disabled From version 29: this feature is behind the Enable experimental Web Platform features preference. To change preferences in Chrome, visit chrome://flags.
Edge Full support 16Firefox Full support 52
Full support 52
No support 40 — 59
Disabled
Disabled From version 40 until version 59 (exclusive): this feature is behind the layout.css.grid.enabled preference (needs to be set to true). To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config.
IE No support NoOpera Full support 44
Full support 44
Full support 28
Disabled
Disabled From version 28: this feature is behind the Enable experimental Web Platform features preference.
Safari Full support 10.1WebView Android Full support 57Chrome Android Full support 57
Full support 57
Full support 29
Disabled
Disabled From version 29: this feature is behind the Enable experimental Web Platform features preference. To change preferences in Chrome, visit chrome://flags.
Firefox Android Full support 52
Full support 52
No support 40 — 59
Disabled
Disabled From version 40 until version 59 (exclusive): this feature is behind the layout.css.grid.enabled preference (needs to be set to true). To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config.
Opera Android Full support 43
Full support 43
Full support 28
Disabled
Disabled From version 28: this feature is behind the Enable experimental Web Platform features preference.
Safari iOS Full support 10.3Samsung Internet Android Full support 6.0
Animation of tracksChrome No support NoEdge No support NoFirefox Full support 66IE No support NoOpera No support NoSafari No support NoWebView Android No support NoChrome Android No support NoFirefox Android Full support 66Opera Android No support NoSafari iOS No support NoSamsung Internet Android No support No
fit-content()Chrome Full support 29Edge Full support 16Firefox Full support 51IE No support NoOpera Full support 44Safari Full support 10.1WebView Android Full support 57Chrome Android Full support 57Firefox Android Full support 51Opera Android Full support 43Safari iOS Full support 10.3Samsung Internet Android Full support 6.0
minmax()Chrome Full support 57
Full support 57
Full support 29
Disabled
Disabled From version 29: this feature is behind the Enable experimental Web Platform features preference. To change preferences in Chrome, visit chrome://flags.
Edge Full support 16Firefox Full support 52
Full support 52
No support 40 — 59
Disabled
Disabled From version 40 until version 59 (exclusive): this feature is behind the layout.css.grid.enabled preference (needs to be set to true). To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config.
IE No support NoOpera Full support 44
Full support 44
Full support 28
Disabled
Disabled From version 28: this feature is behind the Enable experimental Web Platform features preference.
Safari Full support 10.1WebView Android Full support 57Chrome Android Full support 57
Full support 57
Full support 29
Disabled
Disabled From version 29: this feature is behind the Enable experimental Web Platform features preference. To change preferences in Chrome, visit chrome://flags.
Firefox Android Full support 52
Full support 52
No support 40 — 59
Disabled
Disabled From version 40 until version 59 (exclusive): this feature is behind the layout.css.grid.enabled preference (needs to be set to true). To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config.
Opera Android Full support 43
Full support 43
Full support 28
Disabled
Disabled From version 28: this feature is behind the Enable experimental Web Platform features preference.
Safari iOS Full support 10.3Samsung Internet Android Full support 6.0
repeat()Chrome Full support 57
Full support 57
Full support 38
Disabled
Disabled From version 38: this feature is behind the Enable experimental Web Platform features preference. To change preferences in Chrome, visit chrome://flags.
Edge Full support 16Firefox Partial support 57
Notes
Partial support 57
Notes
Notes repeat(auto-fill, ...) and repeat(auto-fit, ...) only support one repeated column (see bug 1341507).
No support 52 — 57
Notes
Notes calc() doesn't work in repeat() (see bug 1350069).
No support 40 — 59
Disabled
Disabled From version 40 until version 59 (exclusive): this feature is behind the layout.css.grid.enabled preference (needs to be set to true). To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config.
IE No support NoOpera Full support 44
Full support 44
Full support 28
Disabled
Disabled From version 28: this feature is behind the Enable experimental Web Platform features preference.
Safari Full support 10.1WebView Android Full support 57Chrome Android Full support 57
Full support 57
Full support 38
Disabled
Disabled From version 38: this feature is behind the Enable experimental Web Platform features preference. To change preferences in Chrome, visit chrome://flags.
Firefox Android Full support 52
Full support 52
No support 40 — 59
Disabled
Disabled From version 40 until version 59 (exclusive): this feature is behind the layout.css.grid.enabled preference (needs to be set to true). To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config.
Opera Android Full support 43
Full support 43
Full support 28
Disabled
Disabled From version 28: this feature is behind the Enable experimental Web Platform features preference.
Safari iOS Full support 10.3Samsung Internet Android Full support 6.0
subgridChrome No support NoEdge No support NoFirefox Full support 71
Full support 71
Full support 69
Notes Disabled
Notes Enabled by default in Firefox Nightly.
Disabled From version 69: this feature is behind the layout.css.grid-template-subgrid-value.enabled preference (needs to be set to true). To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config.
IE No support NoOpera No support NoSafari No support NoWebView Android No support NoChrome Android No support NoFirefox Android No support NoOpera Android No support NoSafari iOS No support NoSamsung Internet Android No support No

Legend

Full support
Full support
Partial support
Partial support
No support
No support
See implementation notes.
See implementation notes.
User must explicitly enable this feature.
User must explicitly enable this feature.

See also