CSS going-around content flow

Question

Is there a way to define a content flow in CSS using flex or other techniques such that content "zig zags" or goes around in this way:

 -----------------
|A > B > C > D > E|
|J < I < H < G < F|
 -----------------

 ---
|A H|
|B G|
|C F|
|D E|
 ---

Assume there are always 2 columns or rows. I could split the items in 2 and create 2 wrapping items around them, but I would like it to be more dynamic.

Basically, how do I make the first row flow to the right and the second flow to the left?

Answer 1

I was able to do this with Flexbox and a bit of JavaScript (I was unable to do it with CSS alone):

var reverseBoxes = function () {

  var flexItems = document.querySelectorAll(".child"),
      flexItemsCount = flexItems.length,
      reverseAt = flexItems.length / 2,
      breakPoint = 480;

  for (var i = reverseAt; i < flexItemsCount; i++) {
    flexItems[i].style.order = flexItemsCount - i;
  }

  for (var j = 0; j < flexItemsCount; j++) {
    if (window.innerWidth > breakPoint) {
      flexItems[j].style.width = (100 / flexItemsCount) * 2 - 2 + "%";
      flexItems[j].style.height = "auto";
    } else {
      flexItems[j].style.height = (100 / flexItemsCount) * 2 - 2 + "%";
      flexItems[j].style.width = "auto";
    }
  }

}

reverseBoxes();
window.addEventListener("resize", reverseBoxes);

body {
  font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
  font-size: 18px;
  margin: 0;
  padding: 0;
}

.parent {
  display: flex;
  flex-wrap: wrap;
  list-style-type: none;
  padding: 0;
  height: 100vh;
}

.child {
  margin: 1%;
  text-align: center;
  background: #069;
  color: #fff;
  display: flex;
  align-items: center;
  justify-content: center;
}

@media only screen and (max-width: 480px) {
  .parent {
    flex-direction: column;
  }
  .child {
    width: 48%;
  }
}

<div class="parent">
  <div class="child">A</div>
  <div class="child">B</div>
  <div class="child">C</div>
  <div class="child">D</div>
  <div class="child">E</div>
  <div class="child">F</div>
  <div class="child">G</div>
  <div class="child">H</div>
  <div class="child">I</div>
  <div class="child">J</div>
</div>

Is it what you ware looking for?

Answer 2

The following solution does not use JavaScript and somewhat scalable. I use display: flex so that I could use the order property.

The basic idea is to assign order: 1 to the last item, order: 2 to the second last item and so on. The first half of the items have order: -1 and a pseudo element having order: 0 is used as a separator. The tricky part is where you figure out the "first half" of items:

.demo {
  display: flex;
  flex-direction: row;
  flex-wrap: wrap;
  background: #EEE;
}
.demo > * {
  margin: .5em;
  width: 4em;
  height: 4em;
  background: #0CF;
}

/*
 * the example work for a list of 20 elements
 * for additional elements extend the repeating selectors
 */

/* all items ordered backwards */

.demo > :nth-last-child(1)  { order: 1; }
.demo > :nth-last-child(2)  { order: 2; }
.demo > :nth-last-child(3)  { order: 3; }
.demo > :nth-last-child(4)  { order: 4; }
.demo > :nth-last-child(5)  { order: 5; }
.demo > :nth-last-child(6)  { order: 6; }
.demo > :nth-last-child(7)  { order: 7; }
.demo > :nth-last-child(8)  { order: 8; }
.demo > :nth-last-child(9)  { order: 9; }
.demo > :nth-last-child(10) { order: 10; }

/* first half items are source ordered */

.demo> :nth-child(-n+0):nth-last-child(n+1),
.demo> :nth-child(-n+1):nth-last-child(n+2),
.demo> :nth-child(-n+2):nth-last-child(n+3),
.demo> :nth-child(-n+3):nth-last-child(n+4),
.demo> :nth-child(-n+4):nth-last-child(n+5),
.demo> :nth-child(-n+5):nth-last-child(n+6),
.demo> :nth-child(-n+6):nth-last-child(n+7),
.demo> :nth-child(-n+7):nth-last-child(n+8),
.demo> :nth-child(-n+8):nth-last-child(n+9),
.demo> :nth-child(-n+9):nth-last-child(n+10),
.demo> :nth-child(-n+10):nth-last-child(n+11) {
  order: -1;
}

/* the separator uses flex-basis trick and ordered between the two halves */

.demo::after {
  content: "";
  flex-basis: 100%;
  order: 0;
}

<div class="demo">
  <div>1</div>
  <div>2</div>
  <div>3</div>
  <div>4</div>
  <div>5</div>
  <div>6</div>
  <div>7</div>
  <div>8</div>
  <div>9</div>
  <div>10</div>
</div>

For two column layout, specify flex-direction: column; height: 25em on the parent (height must be fixed).