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Polypane presents

Cheatsheets

A collection of handy sheets for web devs, covering CSS Flexbox, CSS Grid, Anchor Positioning, and Invoker Commands.

Click a cheatsheet to see it and download it as a PDF or PNG.

Free and print-ready (a5 format with 3mm bleed).

CSS Flexbox

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Layout / Align Items

display:
flexinline-flex
flex-flow:
<direction> <wrap>
flex-direction:
rowrow-reversecolumncolumn-reverse
justify-content:
flex-startflex-endcenterspace-betweenspace-aroundspace-evenly
align-items:
stretchflex-startflex-endcenterbaseline
gap:
<length><row> <column>
flex-wrap:
nowrapwrapwrap-reverse

Align Lines / Content

align-content:
stretchflex-startflex-endcenterspace-betweenspace-aroundspace-evenly

Aligns wrapped lines, not individual items

place-content:
<align-content> <justify-content>center space-between

Shorthand for line/content alignment

Item Properties

flex:
<grow> <shrink> <basis>auto

flex: 1 = flex: 1 1 0%

flex-grow:
<number>
flex-shrink:
<number>
flex-basis:
auto<length><percentage>
align-self:
autoflex-startflex-endcenterstretch
order:
<integer>
margin:
<length>auto

Push item away from siblings

Axes

row (default)
justify-content
align-items
column
justify-content
align-items

flex-direction

1
2
row
1
2
column
1
2
row-reverse
1
2
col-reverse

justify-content

flex-start
flex-end
center
space-between
space-around
space-evenly

align-items

stretch
flex-start
flex-end
center
baseline

gap

gap: 4px
gap: 8px 4px

flex-wrap

nowrap
wrap
wrap-reverse

Item flex sizing

flex: 1
flex: 2
flex: 1

Item flex sizing with auto margin

40px
margin: auto;
40px

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CSS Grid

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Layout Setup

display:
gridinline-grid
grid-template:
"header header" auto / 150px 1frauto 1fr auto / 150px 1fr

Rows / columns shorthand, optionally with areas

grid-template-areas:
"header header" "nav main" "footer footer"
grid-auto-flow:
rowcolumndense
grid-auto-columns:
auto<track-size>
grid-auto-rows:
auto<track-size>
gap:
<length><row> <column>

Track Sizing Functions

fr:
1fr 2fr

Fractional unit of remaining space

minmax():
minmax(100px, 1fr)

Min and max size constraints. Use minmax(0, 1fr) to allow shrinking.

repeat():
repeat(3, 1fr)repeat(auto-fit, ...)repeat(auto-fill, ...)

auto-fit: collapses. auto-fill: keeps empty tracks

fit-content():
fit-content(300px)

Clamps to content or max

Place Individual Items

grid-area:
<name>row-start / column-start / row-end / column-end
grid-column:
<start> / <end>span <n>
grid-row:
<start> / <end>span <n>

Align One Item

justify-self:
startcenterendstretch
align-self:
startcenterendstretch

Grid Layout

header
nav
main
footer
grid-template: "header header" auto
               "nav    main  " 1fr
               "footer footer" auto
               / 150px 1fr;

grid-auto-flow

row
dense

place-items

stretch
start
center
end

align-items

stretch
start
center
end

Align All Items In Areas

place-items:
<align> [justify]
justify-items:
startcenterendstretch
align-items:
startcenterendstretch

Move Whole Grid As One Block

justify-content:
startcenterspace-between

Moves the whole grid inside the container

align-content:
startcenterspace-betweenstretch

Moves grid tracks when extra block space exists

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Anchor Positioning

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Defining an Anchor

anchor-name:
--my-anchor

Creates a named anchor point

Positioning and Sizing

position-anchor:
--anchor-name

Sets default anchor for element

position-area:
topbottom centerspan-all

Placement in the 3x3 containing block

justify-self:
anchor-center

Inline-axis center on the anchor

Also on:
align-selfjustify-itemsalign-itemsplace-selfplace-items

Fallback Positioning

position-try:
<fallbacks> <order>
position-try-fallbacks:
flip-blockflip-inlineflip-start
position-try-order:
normalmost-heightmost-width
position-visibility:
alwaysanchors-visibleno-overflow

Hide or keep anchored element when anchor is out of view

Function Values

Position:
anchor(top)anchor(--name top)

inset/top/left/right/bottom

Size:
anchor-size(width)anchor-size(block)

width/height/inline-size/block-size

Scope

anchor-scope:
noneall--name

Limits anchor visibility to subtree

Position Area Example

.trigger {
  anchor-name: --btn;
}
.tooltip {
  position: absolute;
  position-anchor: --btn;
  position-area: top;
  justify-self: anchor-center;
}

Position Area Grid

left top
center top
right top
left center
center/anchor
right center
left bottom
center bottom
right bottom

Fallback

btn
tip
default
btn
tip
flip-block
btn
tip
flip-inline

Function Example

.tooltip {
  position: absolute;
  position-anchor: --btn;
  bottom: anchor(top);
  width: anchor-size(width);
}

anchor() Sides

center/anchor
top
bottom
left
right

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Invoker Commands

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HTML Attributes

commandfor:
<element-id>

Target element to invoke (no #)

command:
<action>

Action to perform on target

Built-in Commands

Dialog
show-modal
close
request-close
Popover
toggle-popover
show-popover
hide-popover

Dialog commands: close vs request-close

close closes immediately
request-close fires a `cancel` event on dialog. preventDefault() on this event to prevent close

Dialog closedby Attribute

closedby:
anycloserequestnone

How dialog is dismissed

any light dismiss + Esc
closerequest Esc only
none explicit close only

Custom Commands

command:
--custom-name

Dispatch a CommandEvent on the target.

Tooltips

interestfor:
<element-id>

Popover target to show on hover.

Dialog Example

<button commandfor="dlg"
        command="show-modal">
  Open
</button>

<dialog id="dlg" closedby="any">
  <button commandfor="dlg"
   command="request-close">×</button>
</dialog>
dlg.addEventListener('cancel',
  (e) => {
    if (!canClose) e.preventDefault();
  });

Popover Example

<button commandfor="menu"
        command="toggle-popover">
  Menu
</button>

<div id="menu" popover>
  Content
</div>

Custom Command

<button commandfor="vid"
    command="--play">Play</button>
vid.addEventListener('command',
  (e) => {
    if (e.command === '--play')
      vid.play();
  });

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