Add scroll to each column in CSS Grid Layout

Question

I want separate scroll on each of my columns in my grid layout.

Currently, I am developing a mobile only web application. I want to use a different grid layout for the portrait and landscape orientations.

The portrait orientation is just 1 column and every element is after the other. No problem here.

In the landscape orientation I want to use 2 columns. My whole content is displayed on the left side and my navigation moves to the right side. Now I want both parts to have a separate scroll. Is there a way to implement this? And the scroll should stop if the content of the current column ends.

Code on CodePen: https://codepen.io/SuddenlyRust/pen/rmJOqV

.grid-container {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: 1fr;
  grid-template-rows: 1fr;
  grid-gap: 15px 0;
}

header {
  background-color: green;
  grid-column: 1;
  grid-row: 1
}

main {
  background-color: blue;
  grid-column: 1;
  grid-row: 2;
}

nav {
  background-color: pink;
  grid-column: 1;
  grid-row: 3;
}

footer {
  background-color: teal;
  grid-column: 1;
  grid-row: 4;
}

@media only screen and (orientation: landscape) {
  .grid-container {
    grid-template-columns: 5fr 4fr;
  }
  nav {
    grid-column: 2;
    grid-row: 1 / span 3;
  }
  footer {
    grid-row: 3;
  }
}

h1 {
  min-height: 200px;
}

<div class="grid-container">
  <header>
    <h1>Logo</h1>
  </header>
  <main>
    <h1>content</h1>
  </main>
  <nav>
    <h1>Navigation</h1>
  </nav>
  <footer>
    <h1>Footer</h1>
  </footer>
</div>

Thank you very much for your time!

Answer 1

In the landscape orientation I want to use 2 columns. My whole content is displayed on the left side and my navigation moves to the right side. Now I want both parts to have a separate scroll. Is there a way to implement this? And the scroll should stop if the content of the current column ends.

In the left column you have three separate grid items: the header, main and footer elements.

In the right column you have one grid item: the nav element.

Adding a scrollbar – vertical or horizontal – to the left column is not feasible because there are three separate elements. You would need to wrap all elements in a container for a single scrollbar to work.

Adding a scrollbar – vertical or horizontal – to the right column is pretty easy because there is only one element.

Assuming that you're talking about a vertical scrollbar, here's one way to make it work:

body {
  margin: 0;
}

.grid-container {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: 1fr;
  grid-template-rows: 1fr;
  grid-gap: 15px 0;
  height: 100vh;
}

header {
  background-color: green;
  grid-column: 1;
  grid-row: 1
}

main {
  background-color: blue;
  grid-column: 1;
  grid-row: 2;
}

nav {
  background-color: pink;
  grid-column: 1;
  grid-row: 3;
  overflow: auto;
}

footer {
  background-color: teal;
  grid-column: 1;
  grid-row: 4;
}

@media only screen and (orientation: landscape) {
  .grid-container {
    grid-template-columns: 5fr 4fr;
    grid-template-rows: 1fr 1fr 1fr;
  }
  nav {
    grid-column: 2;
    grid-row: 1 / span 3;
  }
  footer {
    grid-row: 3;
  }
}

<div class="grid-container">
  <header>
    <h1>Logo</h1>
  </header>
  <main>
    <h1>content</h1>
  </main>
  <nav>
    <h1>Navigation<br><br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br>nav item<br></h1>
  </nav>
  <footer>
    <h1>Footer</h1>
  </footer>
</div>

revised codepen

---

Browser Support for CSS Grid

• Chrome - full support as of March 8, 2017 (version 57)
• Firefox - full support as of March 6, 2017 (version 52)
• Safari - full support as of March 26, 2017 (version 10.1)
• Edge - full support as of October 16, 2017 (version 16)
• IE11 - no support for current spec; supports obsolete version

Here's the complete picture: http://caniuse.com/#search=grid

Answer 2

Here is a extended version from my answer on your earlier question, how to get scroll for both header/content/main and nav using flexbox.

Fiddle demo

Stack snippet

(function(w, d, timeout) {
  w.addEventListener("load", function() {
    resizer();
  }, false);

  w.addEventListener("resize", function() {
    if (!timeout) {
      timeout = setTimeout(function() {
        timeout = null;
        // do resize stuff
        resizer();
      }, 66);
    }
  }, false);

  function resizer() {
    if (w.innerHeight < w.innerWidth) {
      if (!(d.body.classList.contains('landscape'))) {
        d.body.classList.add('landscape');
        d.body.appendChild(d.querySelector('nav'));
      }
    } else {
      if (d.body.classList.contains('landscape')) {
        d.body.classList.remove('landscape')
        d.querySelector('section').appendChild(d.querySelector('nav'));
      }
    }
  }
}(window, document));

html, body {
  margin:0;
}
header, footer, main, nav {
  margin: 5px;
  padding: 5px;
  border-radius: 5px;
  min-height: 120px;
  border: 1px solid #eebb55;
  background: #ffeebb;
}
footer {
  order: 2;
}
nav {
  order: 1;
}
section {
  display: flex;
  flex-direction: column;
}

@media only screen and (orientation: landscape) {

  main div {
    height: 400px;
    border: 1px dashed red;
  }
  nav div {
    height: 800px;
    border: 1px dashed red;
  }

  body.landscape {
    display: flex;
  }
  section {
    display: block;
    width: calc(60% - 10px);         /*  10px is for the margin  */
    box-sizing: border-box;
    max-height: calc(100vh - 20px);
    overflow: auto;
  }
  nav {
    width: calc(40% - 10px);         /*  10px is for the margin  */
    box-sizing: border-box;
    max-height: calc(100vh - 20px);
    overflow: auto;
  }
}

<section>
  <header>header</header>
  <main>content
    <div>
      This div get a height when in landscape to show scroll in section
    </div>
  </main>
  <footer>footer</footer>
  <nav>navigation
    <div>
      This div get a height when in landscape to show scroll in nav
    </div>
  </nav>
</section>