Accelerated Grid Theming

Accelerated grid
theming using NineSixty

+

Nathan Smith and Todd Nienkerk
DrupalCamp Dallas | August 2, 2009

Nathan Smith
Designer and developer
Fellowship Technologies

Drupal skill level: N00b

Todd Nienkerk
Co-founder, designer, and developer
Four Kitchens

Drupal skill level: Expert(-ish)!

Photo of Nathan: Travis Isaacs; Photo of Todd: Kristin Hillery

History of the grid
‣ The practice of using a grid to guide design and
page layout is nearly a century old
‣ In the 1910s and 1920s, ornamental design gave
way to Rationalism and New Objectivity
‣ This shift in design was part of a much larger
movement towards function over form
‣ Helvetica typeface and Bauhaus architecture

Source: Grids are Good by Khoi Vinh and Mark Boulton

Typographic grids
‣ After World War II, a number of graphic designers,
inﬂuenced by the modernist ideas of Die neue
Typographie (The New Typography), questioned
the relevance of the conventional page layout of
the time
‣ They devised a ﬂexible system to help designers
achieve coherency in organizing the page

Source: Grid (page layout) on Wikipedia

Nearly a century ago
‣ Modernists looked to build a new aesthetic by...
‣ deriving beauty from the innate qualities of the
machine
‣ championing standardization
‣ Sound familiar?


Today
‣ Web designers have turned to grid-based design
in order to...
‣ derive beauty from the innate qualities of the
browser
‣ champion standardization
‣ 16 years after the invention of the web, we are
ﬁnally embracing a century-old design philosophy


Grid systems on the web
‣ On the web, grid systems usually take the form of
CSS frameworks
‣ A framework is a “reuseable abstraction of code
wrapped in a well-deﬁned API”1
‣ A collection of tools and shortcuts designed to
minimize code and make your life easier

1 Source: Software framework on Wikipedia

Examples of frameworks
‣ Ruby on Rails is a well-known Ruby framework
‣ jQuery is a JavaScript framework
‣ Drupal itself can be considered a web application
framework
‣ Includes many APIs for working with databases,
ﬁelds, and web forms

CSS frameworks
‣ Apply the principles of software frameworks to
web design
‣ They provide standardized rules and shortcuts for:
‣ browser resets
‣ typography
‣ navigation
‣ print style
‣ and...

Layout
‣ When applied to web design, grid systems are CSS
frameworks that provides standardized rules and
shortcuts for building a website’s layout

“I’m convinced that the people railing
against CSS frameworks are just trying to
drum up some false job security.”

—Jeﬀ Croft, designer and author

JeﬀCroft.com | What’s not to love about CSS frameworks?

1) Saves time

2) Saves money

3) Reduces frustration

Stop reinventing the
wheel
‣ Reduces the amount of CSS and markup you need
to duplicate each time you start a project
‣ No need to refer to old projects to ﬁgure out how
to implement layouts

Multi-bodied hydra
‣ Many “dragons” share
the same facade
‣ To render in a
browser, all data has
to pass through HTML
‣ .NET, ColdFusion,
Java, Perl, PHP, Ruby,
Python, etc.
Photo from Lernaean Hydra on Wikipedia

Stop ﬁxing and start
designing
‣ Shortens testing phases by providing built-in
support for noncompliant browsers
‣ Minimize Internet Explorer hacks in your layout
‣ A well-tested grid system will rarely be the source
of your problems

“Embrace constraints”
— Mark Kraemer, National UX Practice Lead, EMC.com

‣ All modern displays
support at least
1024×768 resolution
‣ Despite the many
advances in web
technology, it’s all
just rectangles

Photo: Aaron Schmidt on Flickr (Creative Commons BY-NC-SA)

Stop deconstructing CSS
‣ Understanding someone else’s design is much
easier when a standard grid system is used

Enforcing a grid can
accelerate design while
maintaining order

Photo: jontidmarsh on Flickr (Creative Commons BY-SA)

“Our craft is becoming a commodity and the
people in charge don’t care about the quality of
the markup, CSS or how short our JavaScript is.
What matters is how fast you can get it to
market, how many people it reaches and how
cheaply it can be built.”

—Christian Heilmann, Standards evangelist at Yahoo

Think Vitamin | Web development is moving on — Are you?

Columns
‣ Grid systems are built
using columns
‣ Columns are a grid
system’s smallest unit
of measurement
‣ Most grid systems
contain 12–16 columns

Example based on 960.gs (12-column)

Column width
‣ Page regions (header,
content, sidebars, etc.)
are deﬁned by column
width
‣ As in: “The header is
eight columns wide”


Gutters (margins)
‣ Margins or padding are
used to create gutters
between columns
‣ These gutters provide
margins between page
regions


Lean and versatile CSS
‣ A grid system’s CSS should:
‣ Be lean and eﬃcient
‣ Be versatile and reusable
‣ Ensure consistent behavior across all common
browsers — even IE6

Wrapping <div> elements
‣ In ﬁxed-width grid systems, the entire layout is
wrapped inside a single <div> element

‣ <div> elements wrap the page regions and deﬁne
their widths according to the number of columns
they span

‣ These <div> elements may be nested to create
regions within regions

Floating <div> elements
‣ The wrapping <div> class: grid-12
elements are assigned
a column width using a class: class:
grid-4 grid-4
CSS class class:
grid-4
‣ Because these classes class: grid-8
also ﬂoat the elements,
they simply fall into
class: grid-6 class: grid-6
place on the page


What can grid systems
look like?
Examples of grid-based layouts

Layout A: Content left, sidebar right


Layout B: Content between sidebars


Layout C: Content right with two left sidebars


Layout D: Whatever


Layout E: The Mondriaan

Painting by Piet Mondriaan (later Mondrian)

What is 960.gs?
‣ 960.gs — also known as the 960 Grid System —
was created by Nathan Smith in order to
“streamline web development workﬂow”
‣ It’s both a prototyping and development
framework
‣ “The premise of the system is ideally suited to
rapid prototyping, but it would work equally well
when integrated into a production environment.”

Source: 960.gs

Inspiration: Khoi Vinh

Subtraction.com | Grid Computing… and Design

Inspiration: Cameron Moll

Cameron Moll | Gridding the 960

Inspiration: Brandon Schauer

Adaptive Path | Sketchboards: Discover Better + Faster UX Solutions

What’s in it
‣ Download it for free at http://960.gs
‣ GPL and MIT licensed
‣ The 960.gs download includes:
‣ Printable sketch sheets for doodling
‣ Design templates for all most applications:
Photoshop, Illustrator, Inkscape, OmniGraﬄe, etc.

Source: 960.gs

Technical specs
‣ 960px wide with a 940px usable area
‣ Two versions: 12- and 16-column
‣ These can be implemented separately or
simultaneously
‣ Each column has a 10px margin on the left and
right, which creates a 20px gutter between
columns

Source: 960.gs

12-column version
Columns are 60px wide Gutters are 20px wide

10px margin on the left and Available
right prevents collision with working area
browser chrome is 940px wide

Source: 960.gs

16-column version
Columns are 40px wide

Everything else remains the same

Source: 960.gs

Using both versions
simultaneously
‣ 12- and 16-column layouts can be used on the
same page

Halves

Quarters

‣ This ﬂexibility allows designers to work with both
60px- and 40px-wide columns

‣ If 12 or 16 columns don’t suit you, 960 is also
divisible by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 15, 20, 24, 30, 32, 40,
48, 60, 64, 80, 96, 120, 160, 192, 240, 320 and 480

CSS and markup
Note: 960.gs uses underscores in its CSS class names. To avoid confusion, the
examples that follow will use hyphens instead, as this is The Drupal Way.

Containers
‣ Grids must be wrapped
in a container <div>
.container-12,
.container-16 {
‣ Containers center the margin-left: auto;
content and deﬁne margin-right: auto;
which version of the width: 960px;
}
grid will be
implemented

Grids
‣ Grids are held inside .grid-1,
.grid-2,
containers and are .grid-3,
ﬂoated left so they fall ...
into place .grid-16 {
display: inline;
automatically float: left;
position: relative;
‣ They also provide 10px margin-left: 10px;
margins on the left and margin-right: 10px;
}
right

Grid widths
‣ The width of each grid
is determined by the .container-12 .grid-1 {
container that wraps it width: 60px;
}
‣ For example, a one-
.container-16 .grid-1 {
column grid is either width: 40px;
60px or 40px }
depending on whether
it’s a 12- or 16-column
layout

‣ Note that grid width does not increase by 60px or
40px each time

‣ Each increase must account for the 20px gutter
between grids

.container-12 .grid-1 { .container-16 .grid-1 {
width: 60px; width: 40px;
} }

} }

} }

Putting containers and
grids together
.container-12

.grid-3 .grid-6 .grid-3

Prefixes and suffixes
‣ If you want to leave
space between .container-12 .prefix-1 {
columns, use a prefix padding-left: 80px;
or suffix class }

.container-12 .suffix-1 {
‣ Prefix classes add padding-right: 80px;
padding to the left of a }
column
‣ Suffix classes add
padding to the right

Adding a preﬁx and suﬃx

.container-12

.grid-4
.grid-3 .prefix-1 .grid-3
.suffix-1

Multiple rows
.container-12

.grid-12

.grid-4
.grid-3 .prefix-1 .grid-3
.suffix-1

Multiple rows: markup
<div class="container-12">
The container <div>
deﬁnes the layout 
<div class="grid-12">
version in use
This grid occupies the full width
</div>


One wide
No need to put
</div>
each row in its own <div class="grid-4 prefix-1 suffix-1">
wrapping <div> Four wide with a prefix and suffix of one each
</div>
One wide
</div>

</div>

Stack content vertically
with nested grids
.grid-6
.container-12

.grid-6
.grid-3 .grid-3
.grid-6

‣ Here’s the catch: Because each grid includes a
10px left and right margin, nesting grids can break
your layout
.grid-6
.container-12

.grid-6
.grid-3
.grid-6

.grid-3

Alpha and omega ﬁx
broken nesting
‣ When nesting grids, use the alpha and omega
classes to remove the margins
‣ alpha removes the left margin. It’s the ﬁrst nested
grid.
‣ omega removes the right margin. It’s the last
nested grid.

.grid-6
.container-12

.grid-3 .grid-3
.alpha .omega
.grid-3 .grid-3
.grid-6
.alpha .omega

.alpha removed .omega removed
the left margin the right margin

“In the time you could argue the relevance
of naming conventions like these, I just
built a 16 column layout.”

—Matthew Anderson, designer at OneHub.com

Onehub.com | Why We Chose 960.gs for Our CSS Framework

Additional resources
‣ 960 Gridder and bookmarklet
‣ Variable grid system generator
‣ Other grid systems based on 960.gs
‣ Fluid 960.gs
‣ Typogridphy: Typographical and grid layout CSS
framework
‣ and...

The NineSixty theme
http://drupal.org/project/ninesixty

About NineSixty
‣ NineSixty is the Drupal port of 960.gs
‣ Developed by Joon Park, aka dvessel on
Drupal.org
‣ Intended to be used as a base theme
‣ Currently a candidate for Drupal 7 core
‣ Follow the debate on groups.drupal.org

Source: Drupal.org

NineSixty’s improvements
‣ Content-ﬁrst layout using “push” and “pull” classes
‣ These classes have been added back to 960.gs
‣ Dynamic grid widths based on context
‣ Debugging tools and grid visualization
‣ Right-to-left (RTL) language support

Content-ﬁrst layout
‣ A design convention in which the content is output
as close to the top of the markup as possible
‣ Content should be output before all sidebars
‣ Some designers believe it should be output
before a site’s main navigation
‣ This can be very diﬃcult to achieve on a site with
one or more left columns

Push and pull classes
‣ Content-ﬁrst layout can be achieved in NineSixty
by “pushing” the content grid to the right while
“pulling” a sidebar to the left
‣ These classes use the same naming convention
as .grid-X, .prefix-X, and .suffix-X, where X is the
grid’s width:
‣ .push-X and .pull-X

‣ Push and pull values should match the grid value
of the opposite grid

<div id="content" class="grid-6 push-3">
Match numbers to
Content
swap locations
</div>

<div id="sidebar-left" class="grid-3 pull-6">
Sidebar: Left
</div>

<div id="sidebar-right" class="grid-3">
Sidebar: Right
</div>
</div>

Source: NineSixty’s README.txt

Before adding push and pull
.container-12

.grid-6 .grid-3 .grid-3

<div id="content" class="grid-6">
Content
</div>
<div id="sidebar-left" class="grid-3">
Sidebar: Left
</div>
Sidebar: Right
</div>
</div>

After adding push and pull
.container-12

.grid-3 .grid-6
.grid-3
.pull-6 .push-3

<div id="content" class="grid-6 push-3">
Content
</div>
<div id="sidebar-left" class="grid-3 pull-6">
Sidebar: Left
</div>
Sidebar: Right
</div>
</div>

Dynamic grid widths
‣ In some cases, you may want grids to resize
themselves when a region isn’t populated
‣ For example, a 3-6-3 layout should become 3-9 if
the right column is empty
‣ Dynamic width assignment is handled using the
ns() function

‣ Deﬁned in template.php

Structure of ns()
These “pairs”
Default subtract from the
value default value

ns('class-X', $region, Y, $region, Z, ...)

‣ X, Y, and Z are all width values

‣ class can be grid, prefix, suffix, push, or pull

‣ $region can be any theme region

‣ Use as many pairs as you like

Implementing ns()
From page.tpl.php:
<div id="main" class="column <?php print ns('grid-16', $left,
4, $right, 3) . ' ' . ns('push-4', !$left, 4); ?>">
<?php print $content; ?>
</div>

<?php if ($left): ?>
<div id="sidebar-left" class="column sidebar region grid-4 <?
php print ns('pull-12', $right, 3); ?>">
<?php print $left; ?>
</div>
<?php endif; ?>

<?php if ($right): ?>
<div id="sidebar-right" class="column sidebar region grid-3">
<?php print $right; ?>
</div>
<?php endif; ?>

Source: NineSixty’s page.tpl.php

From #main:
<?php print ns('grid-16', $left, 4, $right, 3)
. ' ' . ns('push-4', !$left, 4); ?>

If left sidebar is If right sidebar is
Default present, subtract 4 present, subtract 3
width from default width. from default width.

ns('grid-16', $left, 4, $right, 3)

If left sidebar is not present, subtract
Default 4 from the push value. This will result
push value in no push, as 4-4 = 0

ns('push-4', !$left, 4)


From #sidebar-left:
<?php php print ns('pull-12', $right, 3); ?>

If right sidebar is
Default present, subtract 3
pull value from default pull value

ns('pull-12', $right, 3)


NineSixty in action
‣ Visit http://ninesixty.fkdemos.com to see how
NineSixty...
‣ uses push and pull classes to generate content-
ﬁrst layout
‣ dynamically assigns grid widths based on
context
‣ can be used to create diﬀerent layouts

Planned improvements to
NineSixty
‣ Split 12- and 16-column CSS into separate ﬁles
‣ Slimmer CSS and faster page loads
‣ Add vertical rhythm
‣ Standardized, more professional typesetting
‣ See A List Apart’s “Setting type on the web”

Source: Joon Park's Twitter feed (@dvessel)

Implementing a grid-
based layout
Using NineSixty to build your site

When not to use a grid
‣ Implementing a grid will probably be impossible if
your site’s layout...
‣ uses irregular column sizes
‣ has irregular margins or gutters
‣ has a width that isn’t divisible by a sane number

‣ Implementing a grid will be diﬃcult — but not
impossible — if your site’s layout...
‣ has gutter widths of odd numbers
‣ is ﬂuid
‣ wasn’t designed on a grid

Getting started
‣ Do not change the NineSixty theme on your site!
‣ Hacking NineSixty is like hacking core: It will
make upgrading your site very diﬃcult
‣ Instead, subtheme NineSixty or create a totally
new theme based on NineSixty

Subtheme
‣ This method is best if your site is (or can be)
960px wide and can utilize 12 or 16 columns
‣ Subtheming instructions and resources on
Drupal.org:
‣ Subtheming quick and dirty
‣ Sub-themes, their structure and inheritance

Build a new theme
‣ You should build a new theme when your site’s
layout...
‣ isn’t 960px wide
‣ doesn’t use 12 or 16 columns
‣ It’s more eﬃcient to use a new theme than to
override virtually all of NineSixty’s CSS

Do the math
‣ Be prepared to crunch numbers
‣ Building a new theme can be very confusing
‣ Spreadsheets can help you visualize column,
margins, and gutters

Image source: Client project

The grid equation
(Canvas - ((Total units - 1) x Gutter)) ÷ Total units = Unit

‣ Examples (remember that the true “canvas” size of
960.gs is actually 940px):

‣ (940 - ((12 - 1) x 20)) ÷ 12 = 60

‣ (940 - ((16 - 1) x 20)) ÷ 16 = 40


Examples

960.gs as a development
and prototyping system

Refresh Boston: 16 columns

refreshboston.org

Convertbot: 16 columns

tapbots.com/convertbot

AAFES comp: 12 columns

Credits

stopdesign.com 12 columns

stopdesign.com

Drupal.org redesign: 12 columns

infrastructure.drupal.org/drupal.org-style-guide/prototype.html

Case study

Four Kitchens’ company
website

‣ Subtheme of NineSixty
‣ 12-column version

Source: fourkitchens.com

Header promos Right column
grid-4 grid-3

Content column
grid-8 Gutter
grid-1

Source: fourkitchens.com/blog

Content column Gutter Right column
grid-8 grid-1 grid-3

Footer
columns
grid-3

Sub-footer Gutter Sub-footer
content column grid-1 right column
grid-8 grid-3

Source: fourkitchens.com

Learn more about grids
‣ The Grid System
‣ “The ultimate resource in grid systems”
‣ The Grid System’s Flickr pool
‣ My bookmarks tagged “gridsystems”

Downloads
‣ 960 grid system: 960.gs
‣ NineSixty theme for Drupal: drupal.org/project/
ninesixty
‣ This and other presentations are available for
download at fourkitchens.com/presentations

Contact Nathan
‣ Email: nathan@sonspring.com
‣ Twitter: twitter.com/nathansmith

Contact Todd
‣ Email: todd@fourkitchens.com
‣ also works for Google Chat and AIM
‣ Skype: toddatfk
‣ Twitter: twitter.com/toddross

Credits
‣ “History of the grid” slides were ‣ This presentation was created and
borrowed heavily from Khoi Vinh delivered by Nathan Smith of
and Mark Boulton’s presentation Fellowship Tech and Todd Ross
Grids are Good and from Nienkerk, co-founder of Four
Wikipedia Kitchens

‣ Piet Mondriaan painting was found
somewhere online. Copyright
holder is unknown

‣ The items listed above are exempt
from this presentation’s Creative
Commons license

All content in this presentation, except where noted otherwise, is Creative Commons Attribution-
ShareAlike 3.0 licensed and copyright 2009 Four Kitchen Studios, LLC.

Accelerated Grid Theming

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