Tutorials References Menu

CSS Tutorial

CSS HOME CSS Introduction CSS Syntax CSS Selectors CSS How To CSS Comments CSS Colors CSS Backgrounds CSS Borders CSS Margins CSS Padding CSS Height/Width CSS Box Model CSS Outline CSS Text CSS Fonts CSS Icons CSS Links CSS Lists CSS Tables CSS Display CSS Max-width CSS Position CSS Overflow CSS Float CSS Inline-block CSS Align CSS Combinators CSS Pseudo-class CSS Pseudo-element CSS Opacity CSS Navigation Bar CSS Dropdowns CSS Image Gallery CSS Image Sprites CSS Attr Selectors CSS Forms CSS Counters CSS Website Layout CSS Units CSS Specificity CSS !important

CSS Advanced

CSS Rounded Corners CSS Border Images CSS Backgrounds CSS Colors CSS Color Keywords CSS Gradients CSS Shadows CSS Text Effects CSS Web Fonts CSS 2D Transforms CSS 3D Transforms CSS Transitions CSS Animations CSS Tooltips CSS Style Images CSS Image Reflection CSS object-fit CSS object-position CSS Buttons CSS Pagination CSS Multiple Columns CSS User Interface CSS Variables CSS Box Sizing CSS Media Queries CSS MQ Examples CSS Flexbox

CSS Responsive

RWD Intro RWD Viewport RWD Grid View RWD Media Queries RWD Images RWD Videos RWD Frameworks RWD Templates

CSS Grid

Grid Intro Grid Container Grid Item

CSS SASS

SASS Tutorial

CSS Examples

CSS Templates CSS Examples

CSS References

CSS Reference CSS Selectors CSS Functions CSS Reference Aural CSS Web Safe Fonts CSS Animatable CSS Units CSS PX-EM Converter CSS Colors CSS Color Values CSS Default Values CSS Browser Support

CSS Flex Container


Parent Element (Container)

Like we specified in the previous chapter, this is a flex container (the blue area) with three flex items:

1

2

3

The flex container becomes flexible by setting the display property to flex:

Example

.flex-container {
  display: flex;
}

Try it Yourself »

The flex container properties are:


The flex-direction Property

The flex-direction property defines in which direction the container wants to stack the flex items.

1

2

3

Example

The column value stacks the flex items vertically (from top to bottom):

.flex-container {
  display: flex;
  flex-direction: column;
}

Try it Yourself »

Example

The column-reverse value stacks the flex items vertically (but from bottom to top):

.flex-container {
  display: flex;
  flex-direction: column-reverse;
}

Try it Yourself »

Example

The row value stacks the flex items horizontally (from left to right):

.flex-container {
  display: flex;
  flex-direction: row;
}

Try it Yourself »

Example

The row-reverse value stacks the flex items horizontally (but from right to left):

.flex-container {
  display: flex;
  flex-direction: row-reverse;
}

Try it Yourself »


The flex-wrap Property

The flex-wrap property specifies whether the flex items should wrap or not.

The examples below have 12 flex items, to better demonstrate the flex-wrap property.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

Example

The wrap value specifies that the flex items will wrap if necessary:

.flex-container {
  display: flex;
  flex-wrap: wrap;
}

Try it Yourself »

Example

The nowrap value specifies that the flex items will not wrap (this is default):

.flex-container {
  display: flex;
  flex-wrap: nowrap;
}

Try it Yourself »

Example

The wrap-reverse value specifies that the flexible items will wrap if necessary, in reverse order:

.flex-container {
  display: flex;
  flex-wrap: wrap-reverse;
}

Try it Yourself »


The flex-flow Property

The flex-flow property is a shorthand property for setting both the flex-direction and flex-wrap properties.

Example

.flex-container {
  display: flex;
  flex-flow: row wrap;
}

Try it Yourself »


The justify-content Property

The justify-content property is used to align the flex items:

1

2

3

Example

The center value aligns the flex items at the center of the container:

.flex-container {
  display: flex;
  justify-content: center;
}

Try it Yourself »

Example

The flex-start value aligns the flex items at the beginning of the container (this is default):

.flex-container {
  display: flex;
  justify-content: flex-start;
}

Try it Yourself »

Example

The flex-end value aligns the flex items at the end of the container:

.flex-container {
  display: flex;
  justify-content: flex-end;
}

Try it Yourself »

Example

The space-around value displays the flex items with space before, between, and after the lines:

.flex-container {
  display: flex;
  justify-content: space-around;
}

Try it Yourself »

Example

The space-between value displays the flex items with space between the lines:

.flex-container {
  display: flex;
  justify-content: space-between;
}

Try it Yourself »


The align-items Property

The align-items property is used to align the flex items.

1

2

3

In these examples we use a 200 pixels high container, to better demonstrate the align-items property.

Example

The center value aligns the flex items in the middle of the container:

.flex-container {
  display: flex;
  height: 200px;
  align-items: center;
}

Try it Yourself »

Example

The flex-start value aligns the flex items at the top of the container:

.flex-container {
  display: flex;
  height: 200px;
  align-items: flex-start;
}

Try it Yourself »

Example

The flex-end value aligns the flex items at the bottom of the container:

.flex-container {
  display: flex;
  height: 200px;
  align-items: flex-end;
}

Try it Yourself »

Example

The stretch value stretches the flex items to fill the container (this is default):

.flex-container {
  display: flex;
  height: 200px;
  align-items: stretch;
}

Try it Yourself »

Example

The baseline value aligns the flex items such as their baselines aligns:

.flex-container {
  display: flex;
  height: 200px;
  align-items: baseline;
}

Note: the example uses different font-size to demonstrate that the items gets aligned by the text baseline:


1

2

3

4

Try it Yourself »


The align-content Property

The align-content property is used to align the flex lines.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

In these examples we use a 600 pixels high container, with the flex-wrap property set to wrap, to better demonstrate the align-content property.

Example

The space-between value displays the flex lines with equal space between them:

.flex-container {
  display: flex;
  height: 600px;
  flex-wrap: wrap;
  align-content: space-between;
}

Try it Yourself »

Example

The space-around value displays the flex lines with space before, between, and after them:

.flex-container {
  display: flex;
  height: 600px;
  flex-wrap: wrap;
  align-content: space-around;
}

Try it Yourself »

Example

The stretch value stretches the flex lines to take up the remaining space (this is default):

.flex-container {
  display: flex;
  height: 600px;
  flex-wrap: wrap;
  align-content: stretch;
}

Try it Yourself »

Example

The center value displays display the flex lines in the middle of the container:

.flex-container {
  display: flex;
  height: 600px;
  flex-wrap: wrap;
  align-content: center;
}

Try it Yourself »

Example

The flex-start value displays the flex lines at the start of the container:

.flex-container {
  display: flex;
  height: 600px;
  flex-wrap: wrap;
  align-content: flex-start;
}

Try it Yourself »

Example

The flex-end value displays the flex lines at the end of the container: 

.flex-container {
  display: flex;
  height: 600px;
  flex-wrap: wrap;
  align-content: flex-end;
}

Try it Yourself »


Perfect Centering

In the following example we will solve a very common style problem: perfect centering.

SOLUTION: Set both the justify-content and align-items properties to center, and the flex item will be perfectly centered:

Example

.flex-container {
  display: flex;
  height: 300px;
  justify-content: center;
  align-items: center;
}

Try it Yourself »


The CSS Flexbox Container Properties

The following table lists all the CSS Flexbox Container properties:

Property Description
align-content Modifies the behavior of the flex-wrap property. It is similar to align-items, but instead of aligning flex items, it aligns flex lines
align-items Vertically aligns the flex items when the items do not use all available space on the cross-axis
display Specifies the type of box used for an HTML element
flex-direction Specifies the direction of the flexible items inside a flex container
flex-flow A shorthand property for flex-direction and flex-wrap
flex-wrap Specifies whether the flex items should wrap or not, if there is not enough room for them on one flex line
justify-content Horizontally aligns the flex items when the items do not use all available space on the main-axis