Container Queries Explainer & ProposalMain content

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Container Queries Explainer & Proposal

A path forward, with single-axis containment @ CSSWG

May 2, 2021

Media-queries allow an author to make style changes based on the overall viewport dimensions – but in many cases, authors would prefer styling modular components based on their context within a layout.

My proposal builds on David Baron’s @container proposal, which works by applying size & layout containment to the queried elements. Any element with both size & layout containment can be queried using a new @container rule, with similar syntax to existing media-queries.

The approach has been approved by the CSS Working Group, to be added in CSS Containment Level 3, with me as one of the authors.

See the Contain 3 Project for issues and progress.

Establishing Containers

The first step is to establish containers. Any element can become a container, by adding layout, size (generally inline-size), and style containment:

/* Establish containers */
main, aside {
  contain: layout inline-size style;
}

This syntax works in the prototype, but is clearly not ideal for readable and clear code. There is an open issue to discuss better syntax for establishing query containers

Writing Queries

Each container creates a containment context that can be queried by their descendant elements. We can query the current containment context (the nearest ancestor container) using an @container rule that is very similar to existing @media queries:

/* Change styles according to container size */
@container (min-width: 35em) {
  .media {
    grid-gap: 1rem;
    grid-template: "media content" auto / max-content 1fr;
  }
}

The .media class above is now responsive to any container it is in. Each instance of the .media class will query its nearest container.

That means we can have one .media element that moves around, responding to the context we put it in – or multiple .meia elements, each one responding individually to its own location.

Prototype

Chrome has released a prototype in their nightly build. To experiment with the feature, and leave feedback while it is still in development:

Download Chrome Canary,
Go to chrome://flags in the url bar, and
Search for “CSS Container Queries” & enable the experimental feature
Restart the browser

This is a draft prototype and may not match the final design.

Demos & Articles

For a quick introduction, check out:

Or dig into more resources, for the full details:

‘code’ orgs

2008→

OddBird

Co-Founder: Custom web applications, developer tools, and training

2016→

CSS Tricks

Staff Writer: Blog for people who make websites

2017→

Sass

Core Contributor: CSS with superpowers

2020→

W3C CSS Working Group

Invited Expert: Developing specifications for the CSS language

2020→

Google Chrome

Open Consultant: New specifications & browser priorities

2019→2020

Mozilla Developer

DevRel Contractor: Videos, articles, & tools from Mozilla (and OddBird)

122 ‘code’ episodes

Live Q&A with Miriam @ Front-end Development, South Africa

May 5

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I’ve spent nearly two decades learning, teaching, and writing CSS – as a founder at OddBird, a member of the Sass core team, and an Invited Expert on the CSS Working Group.

Container Queries Explainer & Proposal @ CSSWG

May 2

| article

Container Queries & The Future of CSS @ Web Directions, Hover

Apr 23—30

| talk | Online

New CSS proposals like Container Queries, Cascade Layers, Scoped Styles, and Nesting are all aimed at improving the way we write responsive components and design systems.

Beyond CSS Variables @ An Event Apart Spring Summit

Apr 19—21

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Nov 17, 2020

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Oct 26—28

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Oct 13—14

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CSS is Rad @ SmashingConf Live

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Aug 18, 2020

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Aug 6, 2020

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Jun 22, 2020

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Nov 20, 2019

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Nov 7, 2019

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Nov 2, 2019

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Oct 31, 2019

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Oct 28, 2019

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I drop by the show to talk about Sass in 2019, design tokens, Oddbird, unused CSS, new CSS properties, and Dave & Chris’ explanation of revert.

Inner & Outer Values of the Display Property @ Mozilla Developer

Oct 28, 2019

| video

The display property has been in CSS from the beginning, handling everything from block and inline boxes to list-items and full layout systems like flexbox or grid. Now the display syntax is getting an upgrade to match it’s multiple uses.

Why isn’t this CSS doing anything? @ Mozilla Developer

Oct 21, 2019

| video

There are a number of property & value combinations that can lead to CSS being inactive, and now Firefox will tell you why. Open the developer tools, and look for the greyed-out property with an info-box on hover.

Laying out Forms using Subgrid @ Mozilla Developer

Oct 16, 2019

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Oct 15, 2019

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CSS is Rad @ Smashing Conf NY

Oct 15—16

| talk | New York, NY

The web is designed to work across platforms, devices, languages, and interfaces – but how can we possibly design for that unknown and always-changing canvas?

Faster Layouts with CSS Grid @ Mozilla Developer

Oct 14, 2019

| video

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CSS Revert @ Mozilla Developer

Oct 9, 2019

| video

I’ve often used initial and unset in my CSS – global keywords that can be applied to any property. The difference is small, but important: unset allows inheritance, while initial does not. But then Firefox implemented revert and I was confused – how is this one different from the others?!

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Oct 7, 2019

| article

Sass recently launched a new module system. The new syntax will replace @import with @use and @forward – a big step forward for making Sass partials more readable, performant, and safe.

Why is CSS so Weird? @ Mozilla Developer

Oct 3, 2019

| video

Love it or hate it, CSS is weird: not quite markup, not quite programming in the imperative sense, and nothing like the design programs we use for print. How did we get here?

Styling Lists in CSS @ Mozilla Developer

Oct 1, 2019

| video

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User Unfriendly @ Agnes Scott College

Sep 17, 2019

| talk | Atlanta, GA

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F*CSS

Aug 28, 2019

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Aug 15—16

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Aug 6, 2019

| talk | Washington, DC

Style Guides & Pattern Libraries are great tools for documenting the relationships between code and design, but beautiful docs are only half the battle.

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Jul 2, 2019

| podcast

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CSS Custom Properties @ Smashing Magazine

Jul 1, 2019

| article

Pushing past the “variable” metaphor, CSS Custom Properties can provide new ways to balance context and isolation in our patterns and components.

User Unfriendly @ Design 4 Drupal [keynote]

Jun 26, 2019

| talk | Boston, MA

User Unfriendly @ Open Source Conference

Jun 20, 2019

| talk | Denver, CO

Dynamic CSS @ Generate New York

Apr 24—25

| talk | San Francisco, CA

Advanced CSS & Sass @ Generate New York

Apr 24, 2019

| workshop | San Francisco, CA

Has CSS finally come of age? @ Creative Bloq

Apr 23, 2019

| interview

Steve Jenkins interviews me about the state of CSS, and what’s coming next for the language – from Intrinsic Design to Dynamic CSS.

Advanced CSS & Sass @ Smashing Conf

Apr 18, 2019

| workshop | San Francisco, CA

From building beautiful sites to maintaining complex design systems across multiple applications, CSS is the web-language of design.

Dynamic CSS @ Smashing Conf

Apr 16—17

| talk | San Francisco, CA

Dynamic CSS @ VueConf US

Mar 26—27

| talk | Tampa, FL

On Dynamic CSS @ Thunder Nerds

Mar 26, 2019

| podcast

Thunder Nerds interview me before her talk at VueConf US 2019.

User Unfriendly @ Agile Denver

Mar 18, 2019

| talk | Denver, CO

Don’t Use My Grid System @ Boulder Python

Feb 12, 2019

| talk | Boulder, CO

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Don’t Use My Grid System @ Covalence Conf

Jan 16, 2019

| talk | San Francisco, CA

Fonts & more @ Views on Vue

Dec 4, 2018

| podcast

The panel and the guest talk about grid systems, fonts, and more!

Dynamic CSS @ Front Range Front-End

Nov 1, 2018

| talk | Denver, CO

Agile Design Systems @ Agile Denver

Oct 22, 2018

| talk | Denver, CO

Dynamic CSS @ Full Stack Fest

Sep 6, 2018

| talk | Barcelona, Spain

Ethics, ES6 in Practice, and Dynamic CSS @ TalkScript

Sep 6, 2018

| podcast

On Episode 18, the TalkScript team continues the live-ish at JSConfUS podcast series with guests Myles Borins, Tim Doherty, and Miriam Suzanne. Listen in!

Dynamic CSS @ JSConf US

Aug 21, 2018

| talk | Carlsbad, CA

Dynamic CSS @ CSSConf Argentina

Aug 18, 2018

| talk | Buenos Aires, Argentina

Planning Your Web Project @ Boost Biz Ed

Jul 11, 2018

| talk | Westminster, CO

A non-technical guide for taking your project from concept to launch, without ever losing sight of the goals.

Don’t Use My Grid System @ Beyond Tellerand

May 7, 2018

| talk | Düsseldorf, Germany

User Unfriendly @ AIGA Colorado

Apr 26, 2018

| talk | Denver, CO

User Unfriendly @ Creative Connections

Apr 16, 2018

| talk | Denver, CO

Agile Design Systems @ Front-End Front Range

Apr 5, 2018

| talk | Denver, CO

User Unfriendly @ Metro State Mobile Prototyping

Apr 5, 2018

| talk | Denver, CO

Agile Design Systems @ VueConf US

Mar 26, 2018

| talk | New Orleans, LA

Agile Design Systems @ Tech Confluence

Mar 21, 2018

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18 designers predict UI/UX trends for 2018 @ Figma Design

Dec 15, 2017

| interview

Planning Your Web Project @ EdTech Colorado

Dec 12, 2017

| talk | Denver, CO

Don’t Use My Grid System @ Clarity

Nov 28, 2017

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Don’t Use My Grid System @ CSS Dev Conf

Oct 9, 2017

| talk | New Orleans, LA

Code Patterns @ Refresh Denver

Sep 13, 2017

| talk | Denver, CO

Style Guides & Pattern Libraries are great tools for documenting the relationships between code and design, but beautiful docs are only half the battle.

Practical Layouts, Past & Future @ Women Who Code Fort Collins

Aug 30, 2017

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Don’t Use My Grid System @ DjangoCon US

Aug 14, 2017

| talk | Spokane, WA

More CSS Charts, with Grid & Custom Properties @ CSS Tricks

Aug 11, 2017

| article

Inspired by Robin Rendle, I demonstrate some of my early experiments combining CSS Grids and custom properties to create dynamic layouts and data-visualizations.

Practical Layouts, Past & Future @ Develop Denver

Aug 10, 2017

| talk | Denver, CO

Practical Layouts, Past & Future @ Refresh Denver

Jun 14, 2017

| talk | Denver, CO

Fun with Viewport Units @ CSS Tricks

Jun 5, 2017

| article

Viewport units have been around for several years now, with near-perfect support in the major browsers, but I keep finding new and exciting ways to use them. I thought it would be fun to review the basics, and then round-up some of my favorite use-cases.

Code Patterns @ Front Range Front End

Jun 1, 2017

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Getting Started with CSS Grid @ CSS Tricks

Feb 20, 2017

| video

It feels like CSS Grid has been coming for a long time now, but it just now seems to be reaching a point where folks are talking more and more about it and that it’s becoming something we should learning.

Losing Control @ UVA Scholars’ Lab

Jan 23, 2017

| talk | Charlottesville, VA

Some Kind of Resistance Tour @ Open Grounds

Jan 23, 2017

| journal | Charlottesville, VA

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Some Kind of Resistance Tour @ Women’s March

Jan 21, 2017

| journal | Washington, DC

Some Kind of Resistance Tour @ Small Rain

Jan 19, 2017

| journal | Fredrick, MD

Some Kind of Resistance Tour @ House Show

Jan 18, 2017

| journal | Silver Spring, MD

Some Kind of Resistance Tour @ House Show

Jan 17, 2017

| journal | Baltimore, MD

Some Kind of Resistance Tour @ Wooden Shoe Books

Jan 16, 2017

| journal | Philadelphia, PA

Some Kind of Resistance Tour @ in your ear

Jan 15, 2017

| journal | Washington, DC

Some Kind of Resistance Tour @ The Operating System

Jan 13, 2017

| journal | Brooklyn, NY

Code Patterns @ Gotham Sass

Jan 12, 2017

| talk | New York, NY

Some Kind of Resistance Tour

Dec 9, 2016

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Code Patterns @ CSSDay.io

Dec 3, 2016

| talk | Chandler, AZ

Loops in CSS Preprocessors @ CSS Tricks

Dec 2, 2016

| article

No matter what acronym drives your selectors (BEM, OOCSS, SMACSS, ETC), loops can help keep your patterns more readable and maintainable, baking them directly into your code. We’ll take a look at what loops can do, and how to use them in the major CSS preprocessors.

*Beyond Pixels Profile @ Net Magazine

Dec 1, 2016

| interview

Miriam Suzanne creates experimental experiences with her band and her fellow developers.

An Interview with Miriam Suzanne @ CSS Tricks

Oct 15, 2016

| article

Chris Coyier interviews Miriam when she joins the CSS Tricks team as a Staff Writer. We talk about gettting started in the industry, name confusion, fouding OddBird, building Susy, and more.

Versioning Show, Episode 8 @ SitePoint

Oct 13, 2016

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In this episode of the Versioning Show, Tim and David are joined by Miriam Suzanne, best known for Susy, a responsive layout toolkit for Sass. They discuss going from being a lurker to finding your voice, the importance of writing about what you’re learning, stumbling into fame, approaching new projects, and unit testing in Sass.

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Sep 26, 2016

| talk | Boston, MA

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Aug 18, 2016

| interview

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Aug 3, 2016

| talk

Code Patterns @ CSS Summit

Jul 26, 2016

| talk

Code Patterns @ DublinCSS

May 19, 2016

| talk

Code Patterns @ Clarity

Mar 31, 2016

| talk | San Francisco, CA

Jump Start Sass @ SitePoint

Mar 22, 2016

| book

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Herman @ OddBird

Nov 18, 2015

| project

Design systems streamline development, communication, and consistency – but often rely on dedicated teams and extended budgets.

User Unfriendly @ SassConf 2015

Nov 11, 2015

| talk | Austin, TX

Sassy Toolkits @ Frontend Zurich

Aug 28, 2015

| talk | Zurich, Switzerland

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Sass Map Magic @ CSS Summit

Jul 7, 2015

| talk | Online

Sassy Toolkits @ WordCamp Denver

Jun 13, 2015

| talk | Denver, CO

Sass Map Magic @ Future Insights Live

Jun 2, 2015

| talk | Las Vegas, NV

Accoutrement @ OddBird

Oct 30, 2014

| project

Design systems must be meaningful to both humans and machines Accoutrement provides Sass design-token management that improves readability and consistency, while encouraging automation.

Sass Map Magic @ SassConf 2014

Oct 2, 2014

| talk | New York, NY

Sass Map Magic @ BlendConf

Sep 12, 2014

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Your Own Damn [Susy] System @ Bmore Sass

Apr 24, 2014

| talk | Baltimore, MD

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Show Your Work & Share Your Toys @ Camp Sass

Apr 19, 2014

| talk | San Francisco, CA

Your Own Damn [Susy] System @ The Mixin

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| talk | San Francisco, CA

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Nov 19, 2013

| talk

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Oct 12, 2013

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True @ OddBird

Jun 6, 2013

| project

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Aug 14, 2012

| code

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| code

Into the Green Green Mud @ greengreenmud.com

Feb 21, 2012

| novel

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Susy @ OddBird

Jul 13, 2009

| project

Susy is a lightweight grid-layout engine for Sass, designed to simplify and clarify responsive grid layouts without ever getting in your way. Originally released in 2009, Susy has become one of the most popular layout frameworks on the web.

Miriam's face

Miriam Eric Suzanne

I’m an artist, activist, teacher, and web developer. As a co-founder of OddBird, Teacup Gorilla, and Grapefruit Lab I hope to create art & software that celebrate the queer complexity of human experience.

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