--- title: Flexbox Utilities description: Flexbox utility classes and mixins to make working with flexbox easier. video: 'KxafSdyTCIg' sass: - scss/xy-grid/*.scss - scss/components/_flex.scss - scss/util/_flex.scss --- ## Flexbox Utilities Flexbox makes horizontal and vertical alignment painless, through the CSS properties [`align-items`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/align-items), [`align-self`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/align-self), and [`justify-content`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/justify-content). Foundation includes a handful of classes for these properties, which work with any flexbox-enabled component. To understand how these classes work, you need to understand the parent-child relationship created with flexbox. An element with `display: flex` is a *flex parent*, and can horizontally or vertically align its children. All immediate children of the flex parent are *flex children*. A flex child can vertically align itself.

In the below examples we are using [XY Grid](xy-grid.html) classes instead of [Legacy Flex Grid's](flex-grid.html) row and column. These examples will work for row and column but then again the Legacy Flex Grid will be deprecated from Foundation 7 so we recommend to use XY Grid.

Here's a basic example: when using the grid, a `grid-x` or `grid-y` is a flex parent, and a `cell` is a flex child. Use `grid-margin-x` or `grid-padding-x` for adding [gutters](xy-grid.html#gutters) ```html_example

Cell 1

Cell 2

Cell 3

``` --- ### Horizontal Alignment Horizontal alignment classes are applied to flex parents. Left alignment is the default, but you can use one of these classes to change this: - `.align-right` - `.align-center` - `.align-justify` - `.align-spaced`

```html_example

Aligned to

the left

Aligned to

the right

Aligned to

the center

Aligned to

the edges

Aligned to

the space around

``` 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`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/justify-content). --- ### Vertical Alignment Vertical alignment can be applied to a flex parent—which will align all the children automatically—or to a flex child, which will align only that element. Stretch alignment is the default. To set parent alignment, use these classes: - `.align-top` - `.align-middle` - `.align-bottom` - `.align-stretch`

Note that with vertical alignment, we use the term "middle" for the midpoint, while with horizontal alignment, we use the term "center". As we can't have two CSS classes with the same name, thus we are using different terms.

```html_example

I'm at the top (default)

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.

```

```html_example

I'm in the middle

```

```html_example

I'm at the bottom

```

```html_example

These cells have the same height

``` --- To align an individual child, use the below classes. They use the same alignment terms as the parent-level classes, but the classes start with `.align-self-` instead of `.align-`. - `.align-self-top` - `.align-self-middle` - `.align-self-bottom` - `.align-self-stretch`

```html_example

Align bottom

Align middle

Align stretch

``` --- ### Central Alignment Central alignment can be applied to a flex parent, which will centrally align all children horizontally and vertically automatically. To set this to your layout, simply use the class: `.align-center-middle`.

We are using `.text-center` class just for demo purposes here.

```html_example

I am in the center-middle

I am also centrally located

``` --- ## Vanilla Flexbox Helper Classes Foundation also includes some helper classes for quickly applying flex container & direction attributes to elements. To make something a flex container, simply apply - `.flex-container` And to change its flex direction from row to column you can use the helper classes: - `.flex-dir-row` (default) - `.flex-dir-row-reverse` - `.flex-dir-column` - `.flex-dir-column-reverse` For children, there are 3 quick helper classes to apply the flex property. These control how the containers take up space relative to their siblings: - `.flex-child-auto` (auto size flex child) - `.flex-child-grow` (flex child that will grow to take up all possible space) - `.flex-child-shrink` (flex child that will shrink to minimum possible space)

```html_example

Auto

Shrink

Align top. 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?Align top. 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?Align top. 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?

``` ### Responsive Classes

Deprecation Notice: From v6.5.x, we are disabling responsive classes by default. You would be able to re-enable it though, with setting that $flexbox-responsive-breakpoints to true .

All of these helper classes come in responsive varieties, prefixed with all of your named breakpoints. These vanilla flexbox helper classes also have an optional mobile first responsive classes so that setting a class will apply to the small breakpoint and large unless overridden by a class for a larger breakpoint.. Example: `class="flex-child-shrink large-flex-child-auto"` will be shrink on the small and medium breakpoints and then auto on large. These optional responsive classes can be disabled by setting `$flexbox-responsive-breakpoints` to `false`. See [here](#sass-variables)

```html_example

Auto

Auto on Large

``` --- ## 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. ```scss .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.

Watch this part in video

```html_example

This column will come second on small, and first on medium and larger.

This column will come first on small, and second on medium and larger.

``` --- ## Helper Mixins If you're using the Sass version of Foundation, you can access the above helpers as mixins as well. For parent-level alignment, use `flex-align()`. You can pass in a horizontal alignment (`$x`), vertical alignment (`$y`), or both. ```scss .container { @include flex-align($x: center, $y: stretch); } ``` For child-level alignment, use `flex-align-self()`. You can pass in any vertical alignment. ```scss .sidebar { @include flex-align-self(bottom); } ``` Interested in building your own flexbox-ey component? Use the `flex()` mixin to get started. ```scss .flexish-thang { @include flex; @include flex-align(center, middle); } ```