Grid Areas

In CSS Grid Layout, a grid area is a rectangular space that consists of one or more contiguous grid cells. It is defined by the intersection of specific grid rows and grid columns. Grid areas provide a higher level of abstraction for layout design, allowing you to think in terms of larger blocks rather than individual cells.

Basic Concepts

1. Definition: A grid area is defined by four grid lines: grid-row-start, grid-row-end, grid-column-start, and grid-column-end.

2. Naming: You can name grid areas for easier reference and placement of grid items.

Properties Affecting Grid Areas

1. grid-template-areas: Defines named grid areas within the grid container.

   .grid-container {
     grid-template-areas: 
       "header header"
       "sidebar content"
       "footer footer";
   }

2. grid-area: Places a grid item into a named grid area or specifies its grid lines.

   .header {
     grid-area: header;
   }

   Or

   .grid-item {
     grid-area: 1 / 1 / 2 / 2;
   }

Practical Examples

1. Using Named Areas

   .grid-container {
     grid-template-areas: "header header" "nav content" "footer footer";
   }
   .header {
     grid-area: header;
   }
   .nav {
     grid-area: nav;
   }

2. Spanning Multiple Cells

   .grid-item {
     grid-area: 1 / 1 / 3 / 3;
   }

Best Practices

1. Semantic Naming: Use meaningful names for grid areas to make the layout self-explanatory.

2. Modular Design: Define common grid areas that can be reused across different parts of the application.

3. Responsive Layouts: Use media queries to redefine grid areas for different screen sizes.

Limitations and Considerations

• Named grid areas should form a rectangular shape; they cannot be L-shaped or T-shaped.

• Overlapping of named grid areas is not allowed.

• The grid-template-areas property implicitly sets the grid-template-rows and grid-template-columns if they are not explicitly defined.