How can I use flexbox to achieve a complex, responsive HTML layout?

Question

I have looked into Flexbox to achieve a responsive layout like pictured below. Unfortunately I still have not figured out how to achieve a desktop layout like Figure 1 which rearranges itself to Figure 2 on viewports smaller than 414 pixel.

Figure 1 (desktop viewports)

Figure 2 (mobile viewports)

(scaled version)

Click here for image in original size

My code so far :

.flexbox {
  display: -webkit-box;
  display: -ms-flexbox;
  display: -webkit-flex;
  display: flex;
  flex-wrap: wrap;
  width: 100%;
  margin: 0;
  flex-direction: row;
}
.content-flexbox.one {
  flex-basis: calc(66% - 1rem);
  order: 2;
}
.content-flexbox.two {
  flex-basis: calc(30% - 1rem);
  order: 1;
}
.content-flexbox.three {
  order: 3;
}
.content-flexbox.four {
  order: 4;
}
.content-flexbox {
  margin: 1rem;
  -webkit-box-flex: 1;
  -webkit-flex: 1;
  -ms-flex: 1;
  flex: 1;
}
@media only screen and (max-width: 959px) {
  .flexbox {
    -flex-direction: column;
    padding-top: 1rem;
  }
  .content-flexbox {
    margin: 1rem;
    flex: 1;
    flex-basis: 100%;
  }
  .content-flexbox.one {
    flex-basis: 100%;
    order: 1;
  }
  .content-flexbox.two {
    flex-basis: 100%;
    order: 2;
  }
}

<div class="flexbox">
  <div class="content-flexbox one">
    <h1 class="posttitle">Lorem ipsum</h1>
    <h2 class="subtitle">dolor sit amet</h2>
  </div>
  <div class="content-flexbox two">
    <img src="http://placehold.it/300x300" />
  </div>
  <div class="content-flexbox three">
    <span>Lorem ipsum dolor</span>
  </div>
  <div id="container-voting" class="content-flexbox four">
    <div class="inner-container set">
      <span>Lorem ipsum dolor</span>
    </div>
    <div class="inner-container get">
      <span>Lorem ipsum dolor</span>
    </div>
  </div>
</div>

My question

Is this even possible with flexbox? Is there a better alternative more suited for this layout?

Answer 1

You’re looking for the experimental grid syntax. Flexbox is good for smaller, widget or component layout systems. Grid is for overall page layout, and it’s awesome.

Thing is, grid is only supported in IE, Edge, and the upcoming Safari browsers right now, but Firefox and Chrome support is allegedly just around the corner, and you can start trying it out today by enabling the right developer flag in those browsers.

Here is some sample code, but again, it will only work if your browser supports the new grid syntax.

*{
  box-sizing: border-box;
}

.flexbox{
  width: 320px;
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: calc(50% - 0.5ch) calc(50% - 0.5ch);
  grid-gap: 1ch;
}

.one{
  order: 2;
  background-color: red;
}

.two{
  grid-column: 1 / 3;
  order: 1;
  background-color: green;
}

.three{
  order: 3;
  background-color: pink;
}

.four{
  display: grid;
  grid-column: 1 / 3;
  grid-gap: 1ch;
  order: 4;
  background-color: lavender;
}

.inner-container{
  background-color: violet;
}

@media screen and (min-width: 500px){
  .flexbox{
    width: 500px;
    grid-template-columns: calc(33.333% - 0.333ch) calc(33.333% - 0.333ch) calc(33.333% - 0.333ch);
  }
  
  .one{
    grid-row: 1 / 3;
    order: 1;
  }
  
  .two{
    order: 2;
    grid-column: 2 / 4;
  }
  
  .three{
    order: 3;
  }
  
  .four{
    grid-column: 3 / 4;
    order: 4;
  }
}

<div class="flexbox">
<div class="content-flexbox one">
    <h1 class="posttitle">Lorem ipsum</h1>
    <h2 class="subtitle">dolor sit amet</h2>
</div>
<div class="content-flexbox two">
    <img src="http://placehold.it/300x300" />
</div>
<div class="content-flexbox three">
    <span>Lorem ipsum dolor</span>
</div>
<div id="container-voting" class="content-flexbox four">
    <div class="inner-container set">
        <span>Lorem ipsum dolor</span>
    </div>
    <div class="inner-container get">
        <span>Lorem ipsum dolor</span>
    </div>
</div>

Answer 2

Although this question explicitly asked for a flexbox approach, there is another way to achive it using simple floats.
A media query allows to rearange the elements in the desired order on viewports less than 414px wide:

.wrap {
  background: #d0d0d0;
  padding: 1%;
}
.wrap:after {
  content: '';
  display: block;
  clear: both;
}
.el {
  float: left;
  margin: 1%;
}
.el1 {
  width: 31.33%;
  padding-bottom: 31.33%;
  background: #FF7676;
}
.el2 {
  float: right;
  width: 64.66%;
  padding-bottom: 14.66%;
  background: #C2FF76;
}
.el3 {
  width: 31.33%;
  padding-bottom: 14.66%;
  background: #FF9BF7;
}
.el4 {
  width: 31.33%;
  padding-bottom: 6.33%;
  background: #9BA4FF;
}
@media (max-width: 414px) {
  .el2, .el4 {
    width: 98%;
    padding-bottom: 31.33%;
  }
  .el1, .el3 {
    width: 48%;
    padding-bottom: 48%;
  }
}

<div class="wrap">
  <div class="el el2"></div>
  <div class="el el1"></div>
  <div class="el el3"></div>
  <div class="el el4"></div>
  <div class="el el4"></div>
</div>

Note that I used padding-bottom to keep the aspect ratio of the elements in this example (more info in this answer).
I don't know what content you intend to put in the blocks but you will need to use absolute positionnig for it if you want to stick with the "padding technique". For plain text content, you can check this fiddle.