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CSS Grid to the rescue! First up, style for desktop so you know what the full table should look like. Then look at the table with your data in it. Try it on m
by Theodores 7y ago
CSS Grid to the rescue!
First up, style for desktop so you know what the full table should look like.
Then look at the table with your data in it. Try it on mobile and check the usability. Maybe there are supplemental columns that you have put in because you have the data but are not so important to the person on the move.
In this scenario you can make it so that a click on a table entry brings up the whole record. This could be on a separate page or in a pop-up. Again, depending on the data and the intended audience this has to be worked out by a little bit of prototyping. In the mix are font sizes and options to all 'and'hellip; to selected wide cells that can be abbreviated.
Now the fun begins in creating the responsive layout.
For the grid definitions - grid-column-rows - the desktop layout can be replaced with a CSS variable. In the CSS variable a fallback of the desktop definition can be given. This should be there already. For the variable definition that goes in a media query. This media query can be set to the max-width that best suits the data, if the table looks good down to 40 ems then the media query can be for that and below.
This approach makes it easier for the next guy that comes along. They will only have to know CSS Grid and not any of the Byzantine methods of page layout that came before CSS Grid.
This should degrade gracefully to a stock table for anyone with an extremely old browser.
- GordonS 7y agoI'd love to see a codepen/jsfiddle/gist/whatever that builds out what you describe so it can be compared to the examples on the article?
- Theodores 7y agoIf you want to give it a go then this is all you need to know to get started... So your starting grid is on the table element - display: grid; grid-template-columns: (depends on your column data, start with '1fr auto auto auto...' with as many autos as you need for your data. Then you need to add display:contents on thead, tbody and tr. If you are using a caption then set that to grid-column: 1 / -1; Your original grid-template-columns for the table can then be modified to suit your data, use 1fr to keep things the same width, 2fr if you want a double standard width column. Then you will need to turn the grid-template-columns definition into a CSS variable, with your desktop layout in the fallback and the variable set by a media query for the responsive view. Give it a go, once you have done it once you will wonder why you did it any other way. There are other things you can do to make a sparse table with some cells taking up multiple rows or columns on an ad-hoc basis. Really, once you have the display:contents trick working for you nicely there is nothing to write a codepen about!
- claytongulick 7y agoI 2nd the request for jsfiddle / codepen for comparison. Not a css grid expert here - haven't had great luck with css grid responsive design without a bunch of media queries.
- Theodores 7y agoAre you using variable size fonts? Or are you having to do the paint by numbers thing with a design handed down to you? So much of CSS grid is challenging to the ways pages have been written. Try getting desktop to work and then using CSS variables defined in your media queries so you only have the one set of CSS rules, with just the bits that change in the media queries. This way is much more succinct and you know what bits change as those are the bits with the variables in them. I recommend that you just give it a go on tables, next time you need to. I think it just needs judicious use of display:contents on the header and rows for it to fall into place. That and the CSS variables approach should get you there and the problem can be solved in a two step process. I would not dream of styling up a table or anything else that needs to be in rows/columns any other way, previous approaches have been too fragile for me.