Grid rows and columns in CSS - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Grid rows and columns

📖 Scenario: You are creating a simple webpage layout using CSS Grid. The page will have a header, a sidebar, a main content area, and a footer arranged in a grid.

🎯 Goal: Build a CSS Grid layout with 3 rows and 3 columns. Place the header spanning all columns in the first row, the sidebar in the first column of the second row, the main content in the second and third columns of the second row, and the footer spanning all columns in the third row.

📋 What You'll Learn

Use CSS Grid to create the layout

Define grid rows and columns with correct sizes

Place grid items in correct grid cells using grid-row and grid-column

Use semantic HTML elements:

,

,

,

Ensure the layout is responsive and accessible

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Grid layouts are common in modern websites to organize content clearly and responsively.

💼 Career

Understanding CSS Grid is essential for front-end developers to build flexible and accessible web page layouts.

1

Create the HTML structure

Write the HTML code to create a div with class container that contains four elements: a <header> with text 'Header', an <aside> with text 'Sidebar', a <main> with text 'Main Content', and a <footer> with text 'Footer'.

CSS

Need a hint?

Use semantic tags inside the container div exactly as described.

2

Define the grid container with rows and columns

In CSS, select the class .container and set display: grid;. Then define the grid template with grid-template-columns as 1fr 2fr 1fr and grid-template-rows as auto 1fr auto.

CSS

  Header
  Sidebar
  Main Content
  Footer



.container {
  /* Your code here */
}

Need a hint?

Use fractional units (fr) for columns and auto for rows as instructed.

3

Place the grid items in correct rows and columns

Add CSS rules to place the header to span all three columns in the first row using grid-column: 1 / 4; and grid-row: 1;. Place the aside in the first column of the second row with grid-column: 1; and grid-row: 2;. Place the main in columns 2 to 3 of the second row with grid-column: 2 / 4; and grid-row: 2;. Finally, place the footer spanning all columns in the third row with grid-column: 1 / 4; and grid-row: 3;.

CSS

  Header
  Sidebar
  Main Content
  Footer



.container {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: 1fr 2fr 1fr;
  grid-template-rows: auto 1fr auto;
}
header {
  /* Your code here */
}
aside {
  /* Your code here */
}
main {
  /* Your code here */
}
footer {
  /* Your code here */
}

Need a hint?

Use grid-column and grid-row properties exactly as described for each element.

4

Add basic styling and accessibility improvements

Add CSS to give each grid item a background color and padding: header background #8ca0ff, aside background #a0d8ef, main background #f0e68c, and footer background #d3a0f0. Add padding of 1rem to all. Also add aria-label attributes to aside as 'Sidebar' and main as 'Main content' in the HTML for accessibility.

CSS

  Header
  Sidebar 
  Main Content 
  Footer



.container {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: 1fr 2fr 1fr;
  grid-template-rows: auto 1fr auto;
}
header {
  grid-column: 1 / 4;
  grid-row: 1;
  /* Your code here */
}
aside {
  grid-column: 1;
  grid-row: 2;
  /* Your code here */
}
main {
  grid-column: 2 / 4;
  grid-row: 2;
  /* Your code here */
}
footer {
  grid-column: 1 / 4;
  grid-row: 3;
  /* Your code here */
}

Need a hint?

Add background colors and padding exactly as specified. Add aria-label attributes to aside and main tags.