drupal theming using the 960.gs grid system

May, 2009 | Todd Ross Nienkerk

Drupal theming using the 960.gs grid systemOriginally presented at DrupalCamps Copenhagen, Helsinki, and Stockholm 2009

Personal introduction

Photo: Kristin Hillery

Todd Ross Nienkerk

‣ Co-founder of Four Kitchens, a Drupal design and development firm in Austin, Texas

‣ One of the implementers of the new Drupal.org redesign

‣ Member of the Drupal documentation team

What is a grid system?

Source: Grids are Good by Khoi Vinh and Mark Boulton

History of the grid

‣ The practice of using a grid to guide design and page layout is nearly a century old

‣ In the 1910s and 1920s, ornamental design gave way to Rationalism and New Objectivity

‣ This shift in design was part of a much larger movement towards function over form

‣ Helvetica typeface and Bauhaus architecture

Source: Grid (page layout) on Wikipedia

‣ After World War II, a number of graphic designers, influenced by the modernist ideas of Die neue Typographie (The New Typography), questioned the relevance of the conventional page layout of the time

‣ They devised a flexible system to help designers achieve coherency in organizing the page

Typographic grids

Source: Grid (page layout) on Wikipedia

‣ The result was the modern typographic grid associated with the International Typographic Style

‣ Grid Systems in Graphic Design, the seminal work on the subject, helped propagate the use of the grid in Europe and, later, in North America

Source: Grids are Good by Khoi Vinh and Mark Boulton

Nearly a century ago

‣ Modernists looked to build a new aesthetic by...

‣ deriving beauty from the innate qualities of the machine

‣ championing standardization

‣ Sound familiar?

Source: Grids are Good by Khoi Vinh and Mark Boulton

Today

‣ Web designers have turned to grid-based design in order to...

‣ derive beauty from the innate qualities of the browser

‣ champion standardization

‣ 16 years after the invention of the web, we are finally embracing a century-old design philosophy

1 Source: Software framework on Wikipedia

Grid systems on the web‣ On the web, grid systems usually take the form of

CSS frameworks

‣ A framework is a “reuseable abstraction of code wrapped in a well-defined API”1

‣ A collection of tools and shortcuts designed to minimize code and make your life easier

Examples of frameworks

‣ Ruby on Rails is a well-known Ruby framework

‣ jQuery is a JavaScript framework

‣ Drupal itself can be considered a web application framework

‣ Includes many APIs for working with databases, fields, and web forms

CSS frameworks

‣ Apply the principles of software frameworks to web design

‣ They provide standardized rules and shortcuts for:

‣ browser resets

‣ typography

‣ navigation

‣ print style

‣ and...

Layout

‣ When applied to web design, grid systems are CSS frameworks that provides standardized rules and shortcuts for building a website’s layout

Why use a grid system?

1) Saves time

2) Saves money

3) Reduces frustration

Stop reinventing the wheel‣ Reduces the amount of CSS and markup you need

to duplicate each time you start a project

‣ No need to refer to old projects to figure out how to implement layouts

Stop fixing and start designing‣ Shortens testing phases by providing built-in

support for noncompliant browsers

‣ Minimize Internet Explorer hacks in your layout

‣ A well-tested grid system will rarely be the source of your problems

Stop deconstructing CSS

‣ Understanding someone else’s design is much easier when a standard grid system is used

How do grid systems work?

Example based on 960.gs (12-column)

Columns

‣ Grid systems are built using columns

‣ Columns are a grid system’s smallest unit of measurement

‣ Most grid systems contain 12–16 columns

Example based on 960.gs (12-column)

Column width

‣ Page regions (header, content, sidebars, etc.) are defined by column width

‣ As in: “The header is eight columns wide”

Example based on 960.gs (12-column)

Gutters (margins)

‣ Margins or padding are used to create gutters between columns

‣ These gutters provide margins between page regions

Lean and versatile CSS

‣ A grid system’s CSS should:

‣ Be lean and efficient

‣ Be versatile and reusable

‣ Ensure consistent behavior across all common browsers — even IE6

Wrapping <div> elements‣ In fixed-width grid systems, the entire layout is

wrapped inside a single <div> element

‣ <div> elements wrap the page regions and define their widths according to the number of columns they span

‣ These <div> elements may be nested to create regions within regions

Example based on 960.gs (12-column)

Floating <div> elements

‣ The wrapping <div> elements are assigned a column width using a CSS class

‣ Because these classes also float the elements, they simply fall into place on the page

class: grid-12

class: grid-8

class:grid-4

class:grid-4

class:grid-4

class: grid-6 class: grid-6

What can grid systems look like?Examples of grid-based layouts

Example based on 960.gs (12-column)

Layout A: Content left, sidebar right

Example based on 960.gs (12-column)

Layout B: Content between sidebars

Example based on 960.gs (12-column)

Layout C: Content right with two left sidebars

Example based on 960.gs (12-column)

Layout D: Whatever

Painting by Piet Mondriaan (later Mondrian)

Layout E: The Mondriaan

How 960.gs works

Source: 960.gs

What is 960.gs?

‣ 960.gs — also known as the 960 Grid System — was created by Nathan Smith in order to “streamline web development workflow”

‣ It’s both a prototyping and development framework

‣ “The premise of the system is ideally suited to rapid prototyping, but it would work equally well when integrated into a production environment.”

Source: 960.gs

‣ Download it for free at http://960.gs

‣ GPL and MIT licensed

‣ The 960.gs download includes:

‣ Printable sketch sheets for doodling

‣ Design templates for all most applications: Photoshop, Illustrator, Inkscape, OmniGraffle, etc.

What’s in it

Source: 960.gs

Technical specs

‣ 960px wide with a 940px usable area

‣ Two versions: 12- and 16-column

‣ These can be implemented separately or simultaneously

‣ Each column has a 10px margin on the left and right, which creates a 20px gutter between columns

Source: 960.gs

12-column versionColumns are 60px wide Gutters are 20px wide

10px margin on the left and right prevents collision with browser chrome

Available working area is 940px wide

Source: 960.gs

16-column versionColumns are 40px wide

Everything else remains the same

Using both versions simultaneously ‣ You can use 12-column classes inside a 16-column

grid — and vice versa

‣ This is possible because 12 and 16 are both multiples of 2 and 4

‣ 2 * 6 = 12

‣ 2 * 8 = 16

‣ 4 * 3 = 12

‣ 4 * 4 = 16

‣ In other words, when you divide the layout into halves and quarters, you can use 12- and 16-column version simultaneously

‣ Watch what happens when you lay one grid on top of the other:

Halves

Quarters

‣ This flexibility allows designers to work with both 60px- and 40px-wide columns

‣ If 12 or 16 columns don’t suit you, 960 is also divisible by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 15, 20, 24, 30, 32, 40, 48, 60, 64, 80, 96, 120, 160, 192, 240, 320 and 480

CSS and markupNote: 960.gs uses underscores in its CSS class names. To avoid confusion, the examples that follow will use hyphens instead, as this is The Drupal Way.

Containers

‣ Grids must be wrapped in a container <div>

‣ Containers center the content and define which version of the grid will be implemented

.container-12,

.container-16 { margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; width: 960px;}

Grids

‣ Grids are held inside containers and are floated left so they fall into place automatically

‣ They also provide 10px margins on the left and right

.grid-1,

.grid-2,

.grid-3, ....grid-16 { display: inline; float: left; position: relative; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px;}

Grid widths

‣ The width of each grid is determined by the container that wraps it

‣ For example, a one-column grid is either 60px or 40px depending on whether it’s a 12- or 16-column layout

.container-12 .grid-1 { width: 60px;}

.container-16 .grid-1 { width: 40px;}

‣ Note that grid width does not increase by 60px or 40px each time

‣ Each increase must account for the 20px gutter between grids

.container-12 .grid-1 { width: 60px;}

.container-12 .grid-2 { width: 140px;}

.container-12 .grid-3 { width: 300px;}

.container-16 .grid-1 { width: 40px;}

.container-16 .grid-2 { width: 100px;}

.container-16 .grid-3 { width: 160px;}

Putting containers and grids together

.grid-3 .grid-6 .grid-3

.container-12

Prefixes and suffixes

‣ If you want to leave space between columns, use a prefix or suffix class

‣ Prefix classes add padding to the left of a column

‣ Suffix classes add padding to the right

.container-12 .prefix-1 { padding-left: 80px;}

.container-12 .suffix-1 { padding-right: 80px;}

Adding a prefix and suffix

.grid-3.grid-4

.prefix-1

.suffix-1.grid-3

.container-12

Multiple rows

.grid-3.grid-4

.prefix-1

.suffix-1.grid-3

.container-12

.grid-12

Multiple rows: markup<div class="container-12">

<!-- row 1 --><div class="grid-12">

This grid occupies the full width</div>

<!-- row 2 --><div class="grid-3">

One wide</div><div class="grid-4 prefix-1 suffix-1">

Four wide with a prefix and suffix of one each</div><div class="grid-3">

One wide</div>

</div> <!-- /container -->

No need to put each row in its own

wrapping <div>

The container <div> defines the layout

version in use

Stack content vertically with nested grids

.grid-3.grid-6

.grid-3

.container-12

.grid-6

.grid-6

‣ Here’s the catch: Because each grid includes a 10px left and right margin, nesting grids can break your layout

.grid-3.grid-6

.grid-3

.container-12

.grid-6

.grid-6

Alpha and omega fix broken nesting‣ When nesting grids, use the alpha and omega

classes to remove the margins

‣ alpha removes the left margin. It’s the first nested grid.

‣ omega removes the right margin. It’s the last nested grid.

.grid-3

.grid-3.alpha

.grid-3

.container-12

.grid-6.alpha .omega

.grid-3.omega

.grid-6

.alpha removed the left margin

.omega removed the right margin

Additional resources

‣ 960 Gridder and bookmarklet

‣ Variable grid system generator

‣ Other grid systems based on 960.gs

‣ Fluid 960.gs

‣ Typogridphy: Typographical and grid layout CSS framework

‣ and...

The NineSixty themeDrupal’s implementation of 960.gs is even better than the original

http://drupal.org/project/ninesixty

Source: Drupal.org

About NineSixty

‣ NineSixty is the Drupal port of 960.gs

‣ Developed by Joon Park, aka dvessel on Drupal.org

‣ Intended to be used as a base theme

‣ Currently a candidate for Drupal 7 core

‣ Follow the debate on groups.drupal.org

NineSixty’s improvements

‣ Content-first layout using “push” and “pull” classes

‣ Dynamic grid widths based on context

‣ Debugging tools and grid visualization

‣ Right-to-left (RTL) language support

Content-first layout

‣ A design convention in which the content is output as close to the top of the markup as possible

‣ Content should be output before all sidebars

‣ Some designers believe it should be output before a site’s main navigation

‣ This can be very difficult to achieve on a site with one or more left columns

Push and pull classes

‣ Content-first layout can be achieved in NineSixty by “pushing” the content grid to the right while “pulling” a sidebar to the left

‣ These classes use the same naming convention as .grid-X, .prefix-X, and .suffix-X, where X is the grid’s width:

‣ .push-X and .pull-X

Source: NineSixty’s README.txt

‣ Push and pull values should match the grid value of the opposite grid

<div class="container-12"> <div id="content" class="grid-6 push-3"> Content </div>

<div id="sidebar-left" class="grid-3 pull-6"> Sidebar: Left </div>

<div id="sidebar-right" class="grid-3"> Sidebar: Right </div></div>

Match numbers to swap locations

.container-12

.grid-3.grid-6 .grid-3

<div class="container-12"> <div id="content" class="grid-6"> Content </div> <div id="sidebar-left" class="grid-3"> Sidebar: Left </div> <div id="sidebar-right" class="grid-3"> Sidebar: Right </div></div>

Before adding push and pull

<div class="container-12"> <div id="content" class="grid-6 push-3"> Content </div> <div id="sidebar-left" class="grid-3 pull-6"> Sidebar: Left </div> <div id="sidebar-right" class="grid-3"> Sidebar: Right </div></div>

After adding push and pull

.container-12

.grid-3

.pull-6.grid-6.push-3 .grid-3

Dynamic grid widths

‣ In some cases, you may want grids to resize themselves when a region isn’t populated

‣ For example, a 3-6-3 layout should become 3-9 if the right column is empty

‣ Dynamic width assignment is handled using the ns() function

‣ Defined in template.php

‣ X, Y, and Z are all width values

‣ class can be grid, prefix, suffix, push, or pull

‣ $region can be any theme region

‣ Use as many pairs as you like

Structure of ns()

ns('class-X', $region, Y, $region, Z, ...)

Default value

These “pairs” subtract from the

default value

Source: NineSixty’s page.tpl.php

Implementing ns()

<div id="main" class="column <?php print ns('grid-16', $left, 4, $right, 3) . ' ' . ns('push-4', !$left, 4); ?>"> <?php print $content; ?></div>

<?php if ($left): ?> <div id="sidebar-left" class="column sidebar region grid-4 <?php print ns('pull-12', $right, 3); ?>"> <?php print $left; ?> </div><?php endif; ?>

<?php if ($right): ?> <div id="sidebar-right" class="column sidebar region grid-3"> <?php print $right; ?> </div><?php endif; ?>

From page.tpl.php:

Source: NineSixty’s page.tpl.php

<?php print ns('grid-16', $left, 4, $right, 3). ' ' . ns('push-4', !$left, 4); ?>

From #main:

ns('grid-16', $left, 4, $right, 3)

ns('push-4', !$left, 4)

Default width

If left sidebar is present, subtract 4 from default width.

If right sidebar is present, subtract 3 from default width.

If left sidebar is not present, subtract 4 from the push value. This will result

in no push, as 4-4 = 0Default

push value

Source: NineSixty’s page.tpl.php

<?php php print ns('pull-12', $right, 3); ?>

From #sidebar-left:

ns('pull-12', $right, 3)

Default pull value

If right sidebar is present, subtract 3

from default pull value

NineSixty in action

‣ Visit http://ninesixty.fkdemos.com to see how NineSixty...

‣ uses push and pull classes to generate content-first layout

‣ dynamically assigns grid widths based on context

‣ can be used to create different layouts

Implementing a grid-based layoutUsing NineSixty to build your site

When not to use a grid

‣ Implementing a grid will probably be impossible if your site’s layout...

‣ uses irregular column sizes

‣ has irregular margins or gutters

‣ has a width that isn’t divisible by a sane number

‣ Implementing a grid will be difficult — but not impossible — if your site’s layout...

‣ has gutter widths of odd numbers

‣ is fluid

‣ wasn’t designed on a grid

Getting started

‣ Do not change the NineSixty theme on your site!

‣ Hacking NineSixty is like hacking core: It will make upgrading your site very difficult

‣ Instead, subtheme NineSixty or create a totally new theme based on NineSixty

Subtheme

‣ This method is best if your site is (or can be) 960px wide and can utilize 12 or 16 columns

‣ Subtheming instructions and resources on Drupal.org:

‣ Subtheming quick and dirty

‣ Sub-themes, their structure and inheritance

Build a new theme

‣ You should build a new theme when your site’s layout...

‣ isn’t 960px wide

‣ doesn’t use 12 or 16 columns

‣ It’s more efficient to use a new theme than to override virtually all of NineSixty’s CSS

Image source: Client project

Do the math

‣ Be prepared to crunch numbers

‣ Building a new theme can be very confusing

‣ Spreadsheets can help you visualize column, margins, and gutters

‣ Examples (remember that the true “canvas” size of 960.gs is actually 940px):

‣ (940 - ((12 - 1) x 20)) ÷ 12 = 60

‣ (940 - ((16 - 1) x 20)) ÷ 16 = 40

Source: Grids are Good by Khoi Vinh and Mark Boulton

The grid equation

(Canvas - ((Total units - 1) x Gutter)) ÷ Total units = Unit

Four Kitchens’ company website

Case study

Source: fourkitchens.com

‣ Subtheme of NineSixty

‣ 12-column version

Source: fourkitchens.com/blog

Source: fourkitchens.com/blog

Right columngrid-3

Header promosgrid-4

Content columngrid-8 Gutter

grid-1

Source: fourkitchens.com

Source: fourkitchens.com

Right columngrid-3

Content columngrid-8

Guttergrid-1

Footer columnsgrid-3

Sub-footer right column

grid-3

Sub-footer content column

grid-8

Guttergrid-1

Appendix

Learn more about grids

‣ The Grid System

‣ “The ultimate resource in grid systems”

‣ The Grid System’s Flickr pool

‣ My bookmarks tagged “gridsystems”

Downloads

‣ 960 grid system: 960.gs

‣ NineSixty theme for Drupal: drupal.org/project/ninesixty

‣ This and other presentations are available for download at fourkitchens.com/presentations

Contact me

‣ Email: todd@fourkitchens.com

‣ also works for Google Chat and AIM

‣ Skype: toddatfk

‣ Twitter: twitter.com/toddross

Credits‣ “History of the grid” slides were

borrowed heavily from Khoi Vinh and Mark Boulton’s presentation Grids are Good and from Wikipedia

‣ Piet Mondriaan painting was found somewhere online. Copyright holder is unknown

‣ The items listed above are exempt from this presentation’s Creative Commons license

‣ This presentation was created and delivered by Todd Ross Nienkerk, co-founder of Four Kitchens

All content in this presentation, except where noted otherwise, is Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 licensed and copyright 2009 Four Kitchen Studios, LLC.