CSS Grid Vs Flexbox

CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheet, which plays an important role in designing the layouts and appearance of websites. It allows you to create various layouts using CSS Grid and Flexbox. These two are the most important tools used by developers to build modern and responsive web interfaces. In this blog, we will compare CSS Grid vs Flexbox so that you can learn everything about CSS Grid and Flexbox with examples. In this blog, you will understand the difference between Grid and Flexbox in CSS, along with examples in detail.

Table of Contents:

• What is CSS Grid?
• What is CSS Flexbox?
• Difference Between CSS Grid and Flexbox
• Creating a Basic Grid Element in CSS
• Creating a Basic Flexbox Element in CSS
• Advantages and Disadvantages of CSS Grid
• Advantages and Disadvantages of CSS Flexbox
• When to Use Grid and Flexbox in CSS
• When to Use Flexbox
• Best Practices for Using Grid and Flexbox
• Conclusion

What is CSS Grid?

CSS Grid is defined as a two-dimensional layout system that allows you to work with rows and columns. When you need full control over both rows and columns, CSS Grid is the better choice compared to Flexbox, because it is built for structured layouts like full pages, complex cards, and overlapping sections.

What is CSS Flexbox?

Flexbox in CSS is a one-dimensional layout system that deals with either rows or columns, not both simultaneously. It works well with all types of devices and screen sizes. When you need to align or place elements along one line, flexbox is favoured over Grid.

Grid vs Flexbox in CSS

Creating a Basic Grid Element in CSS

//index.html

//style.css

.container {
    display: grid;
    grid-template-columns: repeat(2, 1fr);
    gap: 10px;
    background-color: black;
}
.item {
    color: white;
    padding: 20px;
    border: 1px solid #fff;
    text-align: center;
}

Output:

Explanation: In this example, .container becomes a Grid container. grid-template-columns: repeat(2, 1fr) creates two equal columns; gap controls spacing between Grid cells. This is a simple example that shows how CSS Grid vs Flexbox plays out when you need a layout with multiple rows and columns, with Grid being the better fit.

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Creating a Basic Flexbox Element in CSS

//index.html

//style.css

.container {
    width: 100%;
    height: 100vh;
    background-color: antiquewhite;
    display: flex;
    align-items: center;
    justify-content: center;
}
.item {
    background-color: black;
    color: white;
    border: 1px solid #fff;
    padding: 20px;
    text-align: center;
}

Output:

Explanation: In this example, you are creating a Flexbox layout using the display: flex property. At the time when you set the display property to flex, two axes are created in the horizontal and vertical direction, called as main-axis(horizontal side) and the cross-axis(vertical side). Here, align-items: center sets the <div> (having the container class) at the center along the cross-axis, and justify-content: center can set the same <div> to the center along the main-axis. When you compare Grid vs Flexbox in CSS, Flexbox is the simpler choice for one-dimensional alignment tasks.

Advantages and Disadvantages of CSS Grid

Now, let’s explore the advantages and disadvantages of CSS Grid.

Advantages of Using CSS Grid 

• Excellent for complex, full-page layouts where you control rows and columns.
• CSS grid allows you to name grid areas and place items using those names.
• Use of powerful features such as grid-template-areas, auto-flow, and fractional units (fr) helps to make your layout predictable.

Disadvantages of Using CSS Grid

• It can be a bit harder for beginners to learn compared to Flexbox.
• It’s not the best choice for simple one-direction layouts, as CSS Grid vs Flexbox would usually favor Flexbox for those tasks.
• It can be a bit harder for beginners to learn compared to Flexbox.

Advantages and Disadvantages of CSS Flexbox

Now let’s explore the advantages and disadvantages of CSS Flexbox.

Advantages of Using Flexbox

• It is simple and easy to implement.
• It is excellent for navbars, toolbars, and linear layouts that adapt to content size.
• It provides you with great alignment utilities for distribution, spacing, and reordering.

Disadvantages of Using Flexbox

• Not used in creating layouts having more rows and columns.
• Limited control over rows and columns.

When to Use Grid and Flexbox in CSS

It’s very important to know when to use Grid and Flexbox in CSS because each handles layout differently, and choosing the right one makes the page easier to build and fix later.

Here are some of the areas where CSS Grid layout is used:

• It is used to create a full web page layout where you can add different elements in the form of rows and columns.
• To control the layout structure, like placing headers, footers, sidebars, and main content.
• To create an overlapping element with precision.

Here are some of the areas where CSS Flexbox layout is used:

• To design smaller parts of a page, such as navbars, form controls, or card layouts.
• To create an element that can adjust to every screen size based on dynamically changing content.
• When you need to align elements easily along a single axis.

For component-level tasks, using Flexbox is more favourable than Grid.

 Best Practices for Using Grid and Flexbox

CSS Grid and Flexbox are important components in creating a website layout. Here are some important steps that you need to follow while working with Grid and Flexbox in CSS.

For CSS Grid

• To create more readable layouts, always use named areas 
• Don’t create deeply nested grids, because these can create a complex layout
• Use media queries to create responsive layouts.

When refining decisions about CSS Grid vs Flexbox, you should always prefer Grid when the layout requires two-axis control.

For CSS Flexbox

• Set suitable properties for justify-content and align-items 
• Use margin auto and gap for spacing between elements.
• Avoid using Flexbox for creating two-dimensional layouts.

Between these two, Flexbox is the better choice for a small component.

Conclusion

Both Grid and Flexbox are useful tools for creating layouts, but each has its own purpose. When comparing CSS Grid vs Flexbox, you should use Grid for two-dimensional layouts where you need to arrange elements in both rows and columns, such as full web pages or structured sections. On the other hand, use Flexbox for one-dimensional layouts, like aligning items in a single row or column, which is great for smaller components such as menus, buttons, or cards. In most real-world projects, you will likely use both together. You can use a Grid for the overall page structure and Flexbox for organizing smaller parts inside it. By understanding the difference between CSS Grid and Flexbox, you can make better layout decisions and build clean, responsive, and easy-to-maintain designs.

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Also, check out our other CSS-related blogs:

CSS Grid vs Flexbox – FAQs