Flex Grid

The flex grid works very similarly to the standard float grid, but includes a number of useful features only possible with flexbox, like horizontal and vertical alignment, automatic sizing, and easier source ordering.

Browser support

The flex grid is only supported in Chrome, Firefox, Safari 6+, IE10+, iOS 7+, and Android 4.4+. Flexbox is supported in Android 2, but not reliably enough for use with this grid. (View flexbox browser support.) We recommend only using the flex grid on projects that can live with purely cutting-edge browser support.

Importing

If you're using the CSS version of Foundation, you can generate a custom download of Foundation with flexbox mode enabled.

If you're using the Sass version of Foundation, you can enable a framework-wide flexbox mode, and add exports for the flex grid and flexbox helper classes. Learn more about enabling flexbox mode.

Watch this part in video

@import 'foundation';

// @include foundation-grid;
@include foundation-flex-classes;
@include foundation-flex-grid;

Basics

The structure of the flex grid is identical to that of the float grid. Rows use the class .row, and columns use the class .column (or .columns). Basic percentage-based sizing can also be done using the same grid classes you're used to: .small-6, .medium-12, and so on.

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<div class="row">
  <div class="small-6 columns">6 columns</div>
  <div class="small-6 columns">6 columns</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
  <div class="medium-6 large-4 columns">12/6/4 columns</div>
  <div class="medium-6 large-8 columns">12/6/8 columns</div>
</div>

Advanced Sizing

If no sizing class is added to the column, it will simply expand to fill the leftover space. We call this an expand behavior.

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<div class="row">
  <div class="small-4 columns">4 columns</div>
  <div class="columns">Whatever's left!</div>
</div>

Multiple expanding columns will share the leftover space equally.

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<div class="row">
  <div class="small-4 columns">4 columns</div>
  <div class="columns">Whatever's left!</div>
  <div class="columns">Whatever's left!</div>
</div>

A column can also be made to shrink, by adding the .shrink class. This means it will only take up the horizontal space its contents need.

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<div class="row">
  <div class="shrink columns">Shrink!</div>
  <div class="columns">Expand!</div>
</div>

Responsive Adjustments

Columns in a flex grid will not wrap if not given an explicit size—this is what allows the magical auto-sizing to work. To make columns stack on smaller screens, add the class .small-12 manually.

To switch back to the expand behavior from a percentage or shrink behavior, use the classes .medium-expand or .large-expand. In the below example, the columns stack on small screens, and become even-width on large screens.

<div class="row">
  <div class="small-12 large-expand columns">One</div>
  <div class="small-12 large-expand columns">Two</div>
  <div class="small-12 large-expand columns">Three</div>
  <div class="small-12 large-expand columns">Four</div>
  <div class="small-12 large-expand columns">Five</div>
  <div class="small-12 large-expand columns">Six</div>
</div>

Automatic Stacking

We have a few shorthand classes for the above behavior. Use the .[size]-unstack classes to stack all columns in the row by default, and then unstack them on a larger screen size, making each one equal-width.

<div class="row medium-unstack">
  <div class="columns">One</div>
  <div class="columns">Two</div>
  <div class="columns">Three</div>
  <div class="columns">Four</div>
  <div class="columns">Five</div>
  <div class="columns">Six</div>
</div>

Column Alignment

Columns in a flex grid can be aligned across the horizontal or vertical axis of their parent row.

Horizontal Alignment

Columns can be aligned the same way you would align text in a paragraph. By default, all columns align to the left (or the right in RTL), but this can be overridden with by adding the .align-[dir] class to the flex row.

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<div class="row">
  <div class="column small-4">Aligned to</div>
  <div class="column small-4">the left</div>
</div>
<div class="row align-right">
  <div class="column small-4">Aligned to</div>
  <div class="column small-4">the right</div>
</div>
<div class="row align-center">
  <div class="column small-4">Aligned to</div>
  <div class="column small-4">the middle</div>
</div>
<div class="row align-justify">
  <div class="column small-4">Aligned to</div>
  <div class="column small-4">the edges</div>
</div>
<div class="row align-spaced">
  <div class="column small-4">Aligned to</div>
  <div class="column small-4">the space around</div>
</div>

You might be wondering what the difference between .align-justify and .align-spaced is. A justified grid (justify-content: space-between) evenly distributes the space between each column. The first and last columns pin to the edge of the grid.

A spaced grid (justify-content: space-around) evenly distributes the space around each column. This means there will always be space to the left of the first column, and to the right of the last column.

The horizontal alignment classes are shorthands for the justify-content CSS property. Learn more about justify-content.

Vertical Alignment

By default, all columns in a flex grid stretch to be equal height. This behavior can be changed with another set of alignment classes. That's right, middle alignment in CSS!

Your options for vertical alignment are top, middle, bottom, and stretch. Note that we use the word middle for vertical alignment, and center for horizontal alignment.

Applying a vertical alignment class to the flex row will affect every column directly inside it.

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<div class="row align-middle">
  <div class="columns">I'm in the middle!</div>
  <div class="columns">I am as well, but I have so much text I take up more space! Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit. Quis facere ducimus earum minus, inventore, ratione doloremque deserunt neque perspiciatis accusamus explicabo soluta, quod provident distinctio aliquam omnis? Labore, ullam possimus.</div>
</div>

<div class="row align-top">
  <div class="columns">These columns align to the top.</div>
  <div class="columns">Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit. Voluptatum, tempora. Impedit eius officia possimus laudantium? Molestiae eaque, sapiente atque doloremque placeat! In sint, fugiat saepe sunt dolore tempore amet cupiditate.</div>
</div>

Vertical Alignment of child columns (individually)

Similar alignment classes can also be applied to individual columns, which use the format .align-self-* instead of .align-*.

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<div class="row">
  <div class="column align-self-bottom">Align bottom</div>
  <div class="column align-self-middle">Align middle</div>
  <div class="column align-self-top">Align top</div>
  <div class="column">Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit. Non harum laborum cum voluptate vel, eius adipisci similique dignissimos nobis at excepturi incidunt fugit molestiae quaerat, consequuntur porro temporibus. Nisi, ex?</div>
</div>

Collapse/Uncollapse Rows

The .collapse class lets you remove column gutters (padding).

There are times when you won't want each media query to be collapsed or uncollapsed. In this case, use the media query size you want and collapse or uncollapse and add that to your row element. Example shows no gutter at small media size and then adds the gutter to columns at medium.

The .is-collapse-child class removes negative margins from nested row under collapsed parent.

<div class="row small-collapse medium-uncollapse">
  <div class="small-6 columns">
    Removes gutter at small media query and adds at medium.
  </div>
  <div class="small-6 columns">
    Removes gutter at small media query and adds at medium.
  </div>
</div>

Scale the browser down to a medium size to see the difference.

Offsets

Offsets work identically to the float grid, by applying margin-left to a column.

<div class="row">
  <div class="small-4 large-offset-2 columns">Offset 2 on large</div>
  <div class="small-4 columns">4 columns</div>
</div>

Source Ordering

Flexbox supports source ordering, making it easy to rearrange columns on different screen sizes without weird relative positioning tricks.

The CSS property is easy enough to remember.

.element {
  order: 1;
}

Columns within a row will be sorted by their order property. Lower numbers are placed first. If multiple columns have the same number, they're sorted in the order they appear in the HTML.

We have a set of classes that make it easy to setup source ordering in your HTML. They also come in responsive flavors, allowing you to reorder a grid on different screen sizes.

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<div class="row">
  <div class="column small-order-2 medium-order-1">
    This column will come second on small, and first on medium and larger.
  </div>
  <div class="column small-order-1 medium-order-2">
    This column will come first on small, and second on medium and larger.
  </div>
</div>

Block Grids

To define column widths at the row-level, instead of the individual column level, add the class .[size]-up-[n] to a row, where [n] is the number of columns to display per row, and [size] is the breakpoint at which to apply the effect.

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<div class="row small-up-1 medium-up-2 large-up-3">
  <div class="column">1 per row on small</div>
  <div class="column">2 per row on medium</div>
  <div class="column">3 per row on large</div>
</div>

@include flex-grid-row($behavior, $size, $columns, $base, $gutters) { }

@include flex-grid-column($columns, $gutters);

@include flex-grid-layout($n, $selector);

@include flex-grid-size($columns);

flex-grid-column($columns)