{"rowid": 126, "title": "Intricate Fluid Layouts in Three Easy Steps", "contents": "The Year of the Script may have drawn attention away from CSS but building fluid, multi-column, cross-browser CSS layouts can still be as unpleasant as a lump of coal. Read on for a worry-free approach in three quick steps.\n\nThe layout system I developed, YUI Grids CSS, has three components. They can be used together as we\u2019ll see, or independently.\n\nThe Three Easy Steps\n\n\n\tChoose fluid or fixed layout, and choose the width (in percents or pixels) of the page.\n\tChoose the size, orientation, and source-order of the main and secondary blocks of content.\n\tChoose the number of columns and how they distribute (for example 50%-50% or 25%-75%), using stackable and nestable grid structures.\n\n\nThe Setup\n\nThere are two prerequisites: We need to normalize the size of an em and opt into the browser rendering engine\u2019s Strict Mode.\n\nEms are a superior unit of measure for our case because they represent the current font size and grow as the user increases their font size setting. This flexibility\u2014the container growing with the user\u2019s wishes\u2014means larger text doesn\u2019t get crammed into an unresponsive container. We\u2019ll use YUI Fonts CSS to set the base size because it provides consistent-yet-adaptive font-sizes while preserving user control.\n\nThe second prerequisite is to opt into Strict Mode (more info on rendering modes) by declaring a Doctype complete with URI. You can choose XHTML or HTML, and Transitional or Strict. I prefer HTML 4.01 Strict, which looks like this:\n\n\n\nIncluding the CSS\n\nA single small CSS file powers a nearly-infinite number of layouts thanks to a recursive system and the interplay between the three distinct components. You could prune to a particular layout\u2019s specific needs, but why bother when the complete file weighs scarcely 1.8kb uncompressed? Compressed, YUI Fonts and YUI Grids combine for a miniscule 0.9kb over the wire.\n\nYou could save an HTTP request by concatenating the two CSS files, or by adding their contents to your own CSS, but I\u2019ll keep them separate for now:\n\n\n\n\nExample: The Setup\n\nNow we\u2019re ready to build some layouts.\n\nStep 1: Choose Fluid or Fixed Layout\n\nChoose between preset widths of 750px, 950px, and 100% by giving a document-wrapping div an ID of doc, doc2, or doc3. These options cover most use cases, but it\u2019s easy to define a custom fixed width.\n\nThe fluid 100% grid (doc3) is what I\u2019ve been using almost exclusively since it was introduced in the last YUI released.\n\n
\n\t\n\n\nAll pages are centered within the viewport, and grow with font size. The 100% width page (doc3) preserves 10px of breathing room via left and right margins. If you prefer your content flush to the viewport, just add doc3 {margin:auto} to your CSS.\n\nRegardless of what you choose in the other two steps, you can always toggle between these widths and behaviors by simply swapping the ID value. It\u2019s really that simple.\n\nExample: 100% fluid layout\n\nStep 2: Choose a Template Preset\n\nThis is perhaps the most frequently omitted step (they\u2019re all optional), but I use it nearly every time. In a source-order-independent way (good for accessibility and SEO), \u201cTemplate Presets\u201d provide commonly used template widths compatible with ad-unit dimension standards defined by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, an industry association.\n\nChoose between the six Template Presets (.yui-t1 through .yui-t6) by setting the class value on the document-wrapping div established in Step 1. Most frequently I use yui-t3, which puts the narrow secondary block on the left and makes it 300px wide. \n\n\n\t\n\n\nThe Template Presets control two \u201cblocks\u201d of content, which are defined by two divs, each with yui-b (\u201cb\u201d for \u201cblock\u201d) class values. Template Presets describe the width and orientation of the secondary block; the main block will take up the rest of the space.\n\n\n\t