How Can I Reorder Divs in a Flexbox Layout Based on Screen Size Without Hiding or Showing Elements?

How to Reorder Divs Using Flex Box: An in-Depth Exploration

In the pursuit of maintaining both SEO friendliness and semantic structure in web design, developers often strive to avoid repeating elements for display in different positions. When using a flexbox layout, this quest presents challenges, particularly when it comes to reordering divs.

The Reordering Challenge

The user's scenario involves a website with a specific layout involving three divs: a top/right div, a center/left div, and a bottom/right div. On desktops, the divs should be vertically centered, while on mobile, they should stack vertically.

The user's constraints include:

• No div should be hidden or shown based on window width.
• Divs have variable heights.
• IE11 compatibility is required.

Flexbox Limitations

Traditionally, flexbox cannot handle reordering of divs based on screen size alone. However, a potential compromise exists depending on each specific case.

Pure CSS Solution with Fixed Height

For cases where divs have fixed heights, it is possible to achieve the desired reordering using CSS. The solution involves wrapping the divs in a flex container and applying the order property to the div that should be reordered. In this case, the center/left div would have an order of -1 on desktops to ensure it appears in front of the top/right div. Additionally, a pseudo-element is used to create the required space for centering on desktops.

Addressing Responsiveness

For responsive designs, additional CSS rules can be applied to handle the different layouts. For example, when the viewport is smaller than 768px, the flex container can switch to a vertical orientation, and the order is reset to 0 for all divs.

Conclusion

While it is generally not possible to reorder divs using Flexbox alone, the limitations can be worked around in specific circumstances by utilizing fixed heights or compromising the layout based on screen size. Developers must carefully consider the specific requirements of their project and explore potential solutions to achieve the desired layout while maintaining semantic integrity.

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