Bootstrap 3.0 - Fluid Grid that includes Fixed Column Sizes

Question

edit: As lots of people seem to want to do this, I have written up a short guide with a more general use case here https://www.atlascode.com/bootstrap-fixed-width-sidebars/. Hope it helps.

The bootstrap3 grid system supports row nesting which allows you to adjust the root row to allow fixed width side menus.

You need to put in a padding-left on the root row, then have a child row which contains your normal grid layout elements.

Here is how I usually do this http://jsfiddle.net/u9gjjebj/

html

<div class="container">
    <div class="row">
        <div class="col-fixed-240">Fixed 240px</div>
        <div class="col-fixed-160">Fixed 160px</div>
        <div class="col-md-12 col-offset-400">
            <div class="row">
            Standard grid system content here
            </div>
        </div>
    </div>
</div>

css

.col-fixed-240{
    width:240px;
    background:red;
    position:fixed;
    height:100%;
    z-index:1;
}

.col-fixed-160{
    margin-left:240px;
    width:160px;
    background:blue;
    position:fixed;
    height:100%;
    z-index:1;
}

.col-offset-400{
    padding-left:415px;
    z-index:0;
}

There's really no easy way to mix fluid and fixed widths with Bootstrap 3. It's meant to be like this, as the grid system is designed to be a fluid, responsive thing. You could try hacking something up, but it would go against what the Responsive Grid system is trying to do, the intent of which is to make that layout flow across different device types.

If you need to stick with this layout, I'd consider laying out your page with custom CSS and not using the grid.

or use display property with table-cell;

css

.table-layout {
    display:table;
    width:100%;
}
.table-layout .table-cell {
    display:table-cell;
    border:solid 1px #ccc;
}

.fixed-width-200 {
    width:200px;
}

html

<div class="table-layout">
    <div class="table-cell fixed-width-200">
        <p>fixed width div</p>
    </div>
    <div class="table-cell">
        <p>fluid width div</p>    
    </div>
</div>

http://jsfiddle.net/DnGDz/

I had a slightly different problem:

• I needed to combine fixed and fluid columns as part of a table rather than as part of a full-window layout
• I needed to have columns fixed to both the left and right
• I was not worried about the column backgrounds using the full-height of the containing row

As a result, I resorted to float to for the left and right columns, and could then use Bootstrap's row to do the fluid columns in between.

<div>
    <div class="pull-left" style="width:240px">Fixed 240px</div>
    <div class="pull-right" style="width:120px">Fixed 120px</div>
    <div style="margin-left:240px;margin-right:120px">
        <div class="row" style="margin:0px">
            Standard grid system content here
        </div>
    </div>
</div>

Updated 2018

IMO, the best way to approach this in Bootstrap 3 would be using media queries that align with Bootstrap's breakpoints so that you only use the fixed width columns are larger screens and then let the layout stack responsively on smaller screens. This way you keep the responsiveness...

@media (min-width:768px) {
  #sidebar {
      width: inherit;
      min-width: 240px;
      max-width: 240px;
      min-height: 100%;
      position:relative;
  }
  #sidebar2 {
      min-width: 160px;
      max-width: 160px;
      min-height: 100%;
      position:relative;
  }
  #main {
      width:calc(100% - 400px);
  }
}

Working Bootstrap Fixed-Fluid Demo

Bootstrap 4 will has flexbox so layouts like this will be much easier: http://www.codeply.com/go/eAYKvDkiGw

OK, my answer is super nice:

<style>
    #wrapper {
        display:flex;    
        width:100%;
        align-content: streach;
        justify-content: space-between;
    }    

    #wrapper div {
        height:100px;
    }

    .static240 {
        flex: 0 0 240px;
    }
    .static160 {
        flex: 0 0 160px;
    }

    .growMax {
        flex-grow: 1;
    }

</style>

<div id="wrapper">
  <div class="static240" style="background:red;" > </div>
  <div class="static160"  style="background: green;" > </div> 
  <div class="growMax"  style="background:yellow;"  ></div>
</div>

jsfiddle playground

if you wanna support for all browser, use https://github.com/10up/flexibility

UPDATE 2014-11-14: The solution below is too old, I recommend using flex box layout method. Here is a overview: http://learnlayout.com/flexbox.html

---

My solution

html

<li class="grid-list-header row-cw row-cw-msg-list ...">
  <div class="col-md-1 col-cw col-cw-name">
  <div class="col-md-1 col-cw col-cw-keyword">
  <div class="col-md-1 col-cw col-cw-reply">
  <div class="col-md-1 col-cw col-cw-action">
</li>

<li class="grid-list-item row-cw row-cw-msg-list ...">
  <div class="col-md-1 col-cw col-cw-name">
  <div class="col-md-1 col-cw col-cw-keyword">
  <div class="col-md-1 col-cw col-cw-reply">
  <div class="col-md-1 col-cw col-cw-action">
</li>

scss

.row-cw {
  position: relative;
}

.col-cw {
  position: absolute;
  top: 0;
}


.ir-msg-list {

  $col-reply-width: 140px;
  $col-action-width: 130px;

  .row-cw-msg-list {
    padding-right: $col-reply-width + $col-action-width;
  }

  .col-cw-name {
    width: 50%;
  }

  .col-cw-keyword {
    width: 50%;
  }

  .col-cw-reply {
    width: $col-reply-width;
    right: $col-action-width;
  }

  .col-cw-action {
    width: $col-action-width;
    right: 0;
  }
}

Without modify too much bootstrap layout code.

---

Update (not from OP): adding code snippet below to facilitate understanding of this answer. But it doesn't seem to work as expected.

ul {
  list-style: none;
}
.row-cw {
  position: relative;
  height: 20px;
}
.col-cw {
  position: absolute;
  top: 0;
  background-color: rgba(150, 150, 150, .5);
}
.row-cw-msg-list {
  padding-right: 270px;
}
.col-cw-name {
  width: 50%;
  background-color: rgba(150, 0, 0, .5);
}
.col-cw-keyword {
  width: 50%;
  background-color: rgba(0, 150, 0, .5);
}
.col-cw-reply {
  width: 140px;
  right: 130px;
  background-color: rgba(0, 0, 150, .5);
}
.col-cw-action {
  width: 130px;
  right: 0;
  background-color: rgba(150, 150, 0, .5);
}

<ul class="ir-msg-list">
  <li class="grid-list-header row-cw row-cw-msg-list">
    <div class="col-md-1 col-cw col-cw-name">name</div>
    <div class="col-md-1 col-cw col-cw-keyword">keyword</div>
    <div class="col-md-1 col-cw col-cw-reply">reply</div>
    <div class="col-md-1 col-cw col-cw-action">action</div>
  </li>

  <li class="grid-list-item row-cw row-cw-msg-list">
    <div class="col-md-1 col-cw col-cw-name">name</div>
    <div class="col-md-1 col-cw col-cw-keyword">keyword</div>
    <div class="col-md-1 col-cw col-cw-reply">reply</div>
    <div class="col-md-1 col-cw col-cw-action">action</div>
  </li>
</ul>