Bootstrap 4 Grid System
Bootstrap 4 Grid System
Bootstrap's grid system allows up to 12 columns across the page.
If you do not want to use all 12 column individually, you can group the columns together to create wider columns:
| span 1 | span 1 | span 1 | span 1 | span 1 | span 1 | span 1 | span 1 | span 1 | span 1 | span 1 | span 1 |
| span 4 | span 4 | span 4 | |||||||||
| span 4 | span 8 | ||||||||||
| span 6 | span 6 | ||||||||||
| span 12 | |||||||||||
Bootstrap's grid system is responsive, and the columns will re-arrange depending on the screen size: On a big screen it might look better with the content organized in three columns, but on a small screen it would be better if the content items were stacked on top of each other.
Grid Classes
The Bootstrap 4 grid system has five classes:
.col-(extra small devices - screen width less than 576px).col-sm-(small devices - screen width equal to or greater than 576px).col-md-(medium devices - screen width equal to or greater than 768px).col-lg-(large devices - screen width equal to or greater than 992px).col-xl-(xlarge devices - screen width equal to or greater than 1200px)
The classes above can be combined to create more dynamic and flexible layouts.
Tip: Each class scales up, so if you wish to set the same widths for
sm and md, you only need to specify sm.Grid System Rules
Some Bootstrap 4 grid system rules:
- Rows must be placed within a
.container(fixed-width) or.container-fluid(full-width) for proper alignment and padding - Use rows to create horizontal groups of columns
- Content should be placed within columns, and only columns may be immediate children of rows
- Predefined classes like
.rowand.col-sm-4are available for quickly making grid layouts - Columns create gutters (gaps between column content) via padding. That padding is offset in rows for the first and last column via negative margin on
.rows - Grid columns are created by specifying the number of 12 available columns you wish to span. For example, three equal columns would use three
.col-sm-4 - Column widths are in percentage, so they are always fluid and sized relative to their parent element
- The biggest difference between Bootstrap 3 and Bootstrap 4 is that Bootstrap 4 now uses flexbox, instead of floats. One big advantage with flexbox is that grid columns without a specified width will automatically layout as "equal width columns" (and equal height). Example: Three elements with
.col-smwill each automatically be 33.33% wide from the small breakpoint and up. Tip: If you want to learn more about Flexbox, you can read our CSS Flexbox Tutorial.
Note that Flexbox is not supported in IE9 and earlier versions.
If you require IE8-9 support, use Bootstrap 3. It is the most stable version of Bootstrap, and it is still supported by the team for critical bugfixes and documentation changes. However, no new features will be added to it.
Basic Structure of a Bootstrap 4 Grid
The following is a basic structure of a Bootstrap 4 grid:
<!-- Control the column width, and how they should appear on different devices -->
<div class="row">
<div class="col-*-*"></div>
<div class="col-*-*"></div>
<div class="col-*-*"></div>
</div>
<!-- Or let Bootstrap automatically handle the layout -->
<div class="row">
<div class="col"></div>
<div class="col"></div>
<div class="col"></div>
<div class="col"></div>
</div>First example: create a row (
<div class="row">). Then, add the desired number of columns (tags with appropriate.col-*-* classes). The first star (*) represents the responsiveness: sm, md, lg or xl, while the second star represents a number, which should always add up to 12 for each row.Second example: instead of adding a number to each
col, let bootstrap handle the layout, to create equal width columns: two "col" elements = 50% width to each col. three cols = 33.33% width to each col. four cols = 25% width, etc. You can also use .col-sm|md|lg|xl to make the columns responsive.Grid Options
The following table summarizes how the Bootstrap 4 grid system works across different screen sizes:
| Extra small (<576px) | Small (>=576px) | Medium (>=768px) | Large (>=992px) | Extra Large (>=1200px) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Class prefix | .col- | .col-sm- | .col-md- | .col-lg- | .col-xl- |
| Grid behaviour | Horizontal at all times | Collapsed to start, horizontal above breakpoints | Collapsed to start, horizontal above breakpoints | Collapsed to start, horizontal above breakpoints | Collapsed to start, horizontal above breakpoints |
| Container width | None (auto) | 540px | 720px | 960px | 1140px |
| Suitable for | Portrait phones | Landscape phones | Tablets | Laptops | Laptops and Desktops |
| # of columns | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 |
| Gutter width | 30px (15px on each side of a column) | 30px (15px on each side of a column) | 30px (15px on each side of a column) | 30px (15px on each side of a column) | 30px (15px on each side of a column) |
| Nestable | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Offsets | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Column ordering | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Credit: www.w3schools.com
Leave a Comment