Declarative Layout

Provides declarative attribute-based utilities for flexbox CSS and padding that use ch and lh units

<column gap-="1" pad-="2 1">
    <row align-="between center">
        <span>Item 1</span>
        <span>Item 2</span>
        <span>Item 3</span>
    </row>
</column>

• 1ch is the width of one character in a monospace font
• 1lh is the height of one line in a monospace font

See https://webtui.ironclad.sh/start/tuis-vs-guis/

Installation

Install the plugin with your preferred package manager

bun i @webtui/plugin-declarative-layout
npm i @webtui/plugin-declarative-layout
yarn add @webtui/plugin-declarative-layout
pnpm i @webtui/plugin-declarative-layout

Import the plugin at the end of your import chain

@import '@webtui/css/base.css';
@import '@webtui/css/components/typography.css';
/* ... */

@import '@webtui/plugin-declarative-layout';

Usage

Padding

Use the pad- attribute to apply padding to any element (not limited to flex elements).

The first keyword passed to pad- is used for horizontal padding. The last keyword passed to pad- is used for vertical padding. Horizontal padding uses the ch unit, vertical padding uses the lh unit.

This utility only includes padding from 0 to 2. If you need more, see how to extend the stylesheet.

<!-- Equivalent of `padding: 1lh 1ch` -->
<div pad-="1"></div>

<!-- Equivalent of `padding: 2lh 2ch` -->
<div pad-="2"></div>

<!-- Equivalent of `padding: 1lh 2ch` -->
<div pad-="2 1"></div>

<!-- Equivalent of `padding: 1lh 0ch` -->
<div pad-="0 1"></div>

<!-- Equivalent of `padding: 1lh 2ch` -->
<div pad-="2 random stuff in middle oh no 1"></div>

Flexbox

Use the row and column elements to create flexbox containers with flex-direction: row and flex-direction: column respectively

<row>
    <!-- ... -->
</row>
<column>
    <!-- ... -->
</column>

Alternatively, you can use is-="row" and is-="column" on different elements

<div is-="row">
    <!-- ... -->
</div>
<section is-="column">
    <!-- ... -->
</section>

Flex Gap

Use gap-="1" or gap-="2" on rows/columns to add a gap between flex items. This uses the gap CSS property.

• A gap of 1ch or 2ch will be automatically added between items with flex-direction: row
• A gap of 1lh or 2lh will be automatically added between items with flex-direction: column

You will probably not need to a gap larger than 2. If you do, see extending

<row gap-="1">
    <span>Item 1</span>
    <span>Item 2</span>
</row>
<column gap-="2">
    <span>Item 1</span>
    <span>Item 2</span>
</column>

Self-Sizing

Use the self- attribute on rows/columns to control how they size themselves

<!-- Equivalent of `flex-grow: 1` -->
<row self-="grow"></row>
<!-- Equivalent of `flex-grow: 0` -->
<row self-="nogrow"></row>
<!-- Equivalent of `flex-shrink: 1` -->
<row self-="shrink"></row>
<!-- Equivalent of `flex-shrink: 0` -->
<row self-="noshrink"></row>
<!-- Equivalent of `flex-basis: 0` -->
<row self-="nobasis"></row>

You can combine these attributes by separating them with spaces

<!-- Equivalent of
    flex-grow: 1;
    flex-shrink: 1;
    flex-basis: 0;
-->
<row self-="grow shrink nobasis"></row>

Align & Justify

Use the align- attribute on rows/columns to control their align-items and justify-content properties.

Note on Syntax

The first keyword passed to align- is used for align-items. The last keyword passed to align- is used for justify-content. There is no justify- attribute.

<!-- Both Equivalent of
    align-items: center
    justify-content: center
-->
<row align-="center"></row>
<row align-="center center"></row>

<!-- Equivalent of 
    align-items: center
    justify-content: space-between
-->
<row align-="center between"></row>

<!-- Equivalent of
    align-items: flex-start
    justify-content: flex-end
-->
<row align-="start never gonna give you up end"></row>

<!-- Equivalent of `justify-content: space-between` -->
<!-- Because `space-between` does not exist for `align-items` -->
<row align-="between"></row>

Start (align-items) values

• start
• end
• center
• stretch

End (justify-content) values

• start
• end
• center
• between

Extending

If you want to add more attributes, you can do so by extending the utils layer

@layer utils {
    /* Adds a new variant to the padding utility */
    [pad-] {
        &[pad-^='8'] {
            padding-left: 8ch;
            padding-right: 8ch;
        }

        &[pad-$='8'] {
            padding-top: 8lh;
            padding-bottom: 8lh;
        }
    }

    row,
    column,
    [is-~='row'],
    [is-~='column'] {
        /* Adds a new `gap-` variant to the flexbox utility */
        &[gap-='4'] {
            gap: 4lh 4ch;
        }

        /* Adds a new `self-` variant to the flexbox utility */
        &[self-~='grow-2'] {
            flex-grow: 2;
        }

        /* Adds a new `align-items` value to the align- property */
        &[align-^='start-but-not-flex-start'] {
            align-items: start;
        }

        /* Adds a new `justify-content` value to the align- property */
        &[align-$='end-but-not-flex-end'] {
            justify-content: end;
        }
    }
}