Understanding Layout Algorithms
Josh is great at explaining tricky concepts and here he’s really set himself a challenge: explaining layout modes in CSS.
Link tags: positioning
6
CSS Anchored Positioning
An interesting proposal for defining how one element could be “anchored” to another, and how that positioning could be expressed declaratively instead of having to write a whole load of JavaScript. Melanie’s looking for use cases so share ‘em if you have ‘em.
Personally, I’m not convinced that a new element is needed but I’m open to the suggestion.
Hybrid positioning with CSS variables and max() – Lea Verou
Yet another clever technique from Lea. But I’m also bookmarking this one because of something she points out about custom properties:
The browser doesn’t know if your property value is valid until the variable is resolved, and by then it has already processed the cascade and has thrown away any potential fallbacks.
That explains an issue I was seeing recently! I couldn’t understand why an older browser wasn’t getting the fallback I had declared earlier in the CSS. Turns out that custom properties mess with that expectation.
Getting Started With CSS Layout — Smashing Magazine
Rachel gives a terrific explanation of CSS layout from first principles, starting with the default normal flow within writing systems, moving on to floats, then positioning—relative, absolute, fixed, and sticky—then flexbox, and finally grid (with a coda on alignment). This is a great primer to keep bookmarked; I think I’ll find myself returning to this more than once.
Writing for Yourself (& the Power of Absolute Positioning)
We should write for ourselves, we should write about whatever we want to. Not just about the web either. Our twitter feeds don’t need to be a highlight reel of our best moments and not every blog post needs to be a stinging critique of the latest javascript framework. They just need to reflect who we are and what we think about and with any luck, when we look back on them, we might learn something about ourselves.
Fixed Positioning in Mobile Browsers | Brad Frost Web
Brad takes a detailed look at mobile browser support for fixed positioning and how it intersects with page zooming.