The creation of fully flexible user interfaces is possible with Flexbox, which is a CSS layout module. It is an easy-to-use alternative to floats and a couple of jQuery plugins such as image gallery libraries. Flexbox fits especially well with one-dimensional layouts and is an ideal choice for several typical CSS tasks.
Here’s a look into how to use flexbox to create a responsive image gallery that looks well at every viewport size. And for incorporating the same, do get in touch with our agency for web application testing in San Jose.
1. Create the HTML
First step is to create the HTML. It’s a simple div and includes a couple of img tags. The images are pulled and generated from the Unsplash Source API. The .container class stands for the flex container, while the .item class will hold the flex items.
The browser stacks the images next to each other well and retains their original 320×240 px size. But if you try to resize the browser window you’ll find that the images are not responsive. This could even be a bigger problem if you use larger images. It would be difficult to modify their position and alignment as well. Flexbox makes the images much easier to handle.
These tasks can be simplified with the help of our UI/UX design company in San Jose.
2. Add Basic Reset Styles
Reset styles help to remove the default browser styling of the CSS. A simplified version of Eric Meyer’s reset stylesheet would be ideal for this purpose as it will only include the HTML elements that are needed for the gallery (html, body, div, img).
Adding the box-sizing: border-box property to the whole page lets the paddings and borders be included in the total widths and heights of the elements. It’s frequently recommended to use this CSS rule for flexbox. Or else paddings and borders might disappear at the end of the rows.
3. Create the Flexbox Layout
Creating the flexbox layout is simple. It is just one line of code. It only requires setting the flex container to display: flex. There is no need to add any CSS rules to the flex items at the moment.
All the images now fit into the same row. The browser adapts the widths and heights of the images to the size of the viewport. Resizing your browser window lets the images become flexible and they grow and shrink according to the available space.
Were you looking for the ideal UI/UX design company in California to help you with the process? We are only a call away.
4. Wrap the Images
Stacking all images in the same row is favorable with some layouts especially if you have just a few images (or icons). But, image grids are used more frequently, especially for galleries.
It is good to use the flex-wrap property that specifies if the flex items are laid out in one or multiple lines. Its default value is nowrap which indicates that all items are laid out in a single line. Setting it to wrap, helps the images flow nicely into a grid. For which it is required to add the flex-wrap rule to the flex container:
After the page is reloaded, you can see that the images have retained their original sizes (320×240 pixels) and are wrapped into multiple rows.
This layout is very similar to the one before adding the CSS. But, with flexbox, the images are fully responsive. It can be tested by resizing the browser window. Another advantage is that the images (flex items) can be easily positioned in different ways.
This article is to give you an insight and for getting professional help with the installation and incorporation of the same, our agency for custom product development in California can help.
5. Add a Gap
Before looking into the alignment, it is essential to add some gaps around the images. The biggest shortcoming of flexbox is that it has no gap property similar to the CSS grid’s grid-gap.
So, it is recommended to use the traditional method and add some margins around the flex items. As the margins in-between two adjacent images will add up (will be 10px instead of 5px), it is ideal to add a 5px padding around the flex container.
Do contact our web application testing agency in California for more information.
6. Browser Support
The browser support of flexbox is good and it fully works with all modern browsers including mobile browsers and partially with Internet Explorer 11.
Conclusion
Flexbox helps to make the creation of responsive image galleries a straightforward process. Without special alignment, the CSS of the gallery is just eight lines of code and in case you don’t need gaps, it’s even fewer.
However, a flexbox image gallery is only a good choice if all images have the same size. Hence, it’s important to know that flexbox does have issues with keeping aspect ratio when images have different widths and heights. And in such cases, the best solution is to lay out the image gallery using the CSS grid.
Hope the readthrough has given you a broader look into how these work. For expert guidance and incorporation of the same, do contact our web application development and web application testing agency in San Jose.