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Flexbox Layout Patterns — Common UI Layouts with CSS Flexbox

CSS Flexbox solves common UI layout problems: sticky footers, equal-height columns, and horizontal navigation. Here's how to implement the most common Flexbox layout patterns...

Mian Ali Khalid · · 5 min read
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CSS Flexbox excels at one-dimensional layouts — navbars, footers, card rows, and column alignment. Here are the most common layout patterns built with Flexbox.

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A footer that sticks to the bottom even when content is short:

body {
  display: flex;
  flex-direction: column;
  min-height: 100vh;
  margin: 0;
}

.content {
  flex: 1;  /* grows to fill all available space */
}

.footer {
  /* stays at bottom naturally */
}
<body>
  <header>Navigation</header>
  <main class="content">Page content</main>
  <footer>Footer</footer>
</body>

flex: 1 on the content makes it take all remaining space, pushing the footer down.

Horizontal navigation bar

.navbar {
  display: flex;
  align-items: center;
  padding: 0 1.5rem;
  height: 64px;
  background: #1e293b;
}

.navbar-brand {
  font-size: 1.25rem;
  font-weight: bold;
  color: white;
}

.navbar-links {
  display: flex;
  gap: 1.5rem;
  list-style: none;
  margin: 0;
  padding: 0;
}

.navbar-end {
  margin-left: auto;  /* pushes to the right */
  display: flex;
  gap: 0.75rem;
  align-items: center;
}
<nav class="navbar">
  <a class="navbar-brand" href="/">Logo</a>
  <ul class="navbar-links">
    <li><a href="/docs">Docs</a></li>
    <li><a href="/pricing">Pricing</a></li>
  </ul>
  <div class="navbar-end">
    <button>Sign In</button>
    <button>Get Started</button>
  </div>
</nav>

Sidebar + main content layout

.layout {
  display: flex;
  min-height: 100vh;
}

.sidebar {
  flex: 0 0 260px;  /* fixed width, don't grow or shrink */
  background: #f8fafc;
  padding: 1.5rem;
}

.main {
  flex: 1;  /* take all remaining width */
  padding: 2rem;
  overflow: auto;
}

Equal height columns

.columns {
  display: flex;
  gap: 2rem;
}

.column {
  flex: 1;
  /* By default, align-items: stretch makes all columns equal height */
}

All columns automatically have the same height as the tallest column (default Flexbox behavior with align-items: stretch).

Card row with equal sizing

.card-row {
  display: flex;
  gap: 1.5rem;
  flex-wrap: wrap;
}

.card {
  flex: 1 1 280px;  /* grow, shrink, min-width 280px */
  max-width: 400px;
}
  • flex-grow: 1 — cards fill available space equally
  • flex-basis: 280px — minimum before wrapping
  • max-width: 400px — cap individual card width

Centering a modal/dialog

.modal-overlay {
  display: flex;
  justify-content: center;
  align-items: center;
  position: fixed;
  inset: 0;
  background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5);
}

.modal {
  background: white;
  border-radius: 12px;
  padding: 2rem;
  max-width: 500px;
  width: 90%;
}

Pricing cards with aligned features

.pricing-grid {
  display: flex;
  gap: 2rem;
  align-items: stretch;  /* cards all same height */
}

.plan {
  flex: 1;
  display: flex;
  flex-direction: column;
  padding: 2rem;
  border: 1px solid #e2e8f0;
  border-radius: 12px;
}

.plan-features {
  flex: 1;  /* pushes button to bottom */
}

.plan-button {
  margin-top: auto;
}

Cards have equal height; the CTA button is always at the bottom regardless of feature list length.

Media object pattern

.media {
  display: flex;
  gap: 1rem;
  align-items: flex-start;
}

.media-image {
  flex: 0 0 64px;  /* fixed-size image */
}

.media-body {
  flex: 1;  /* text takes remaining space */
}

Used for comment threads, notifications, user profile rows.

Inline form with input and button

.search-form {
  display: flex;
  gap: 0.5rem;
  max-width: 480px;
}

.search-input {
  flex: 1;  /* input grows to fill available width */
  min-width: 0;  /* prevents overflow in Safari */
}

.search-button {
  flex: 0 0 auto;  /* button stays at its natural width */
  white-space: nowrap;
}

min-width: 0 on the input is important — flex items default to min-width: auto which can cause overflow with text inputs.

.footer {
  display: flex;
  flex-wrap: wrap;
  gap: 3rem;
  padding: 3rem;
  background: #0f172a;
}

.footer-column {
  flex: 1 1 200px;  /* min 200px, then grow equally */
}

.footer-links {
  display: flex;
  flex-direction: column;
  gap: 0.75rem;
}

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Flexbox Generator

Visual CSS Flexbox playground. Live preview + copyable CSS. Control direction, wrap, justify, align, gap. Example child layouts.

Written by Mian Ali Khalid. Part of the Frontend & Design pillar.