---
title: CSS Grid Item
description: "1 2 3 4 5 ## Child Elements (Items) A grid *container* contains grid *items*. By default, a container has one grid item for each column, in each row, but you can style the grid items so that they will span multiple columns…"
url: "https://apprentice.mn/docs/css-grid-item/"
updated: "2021-05-13"
category: CSS
---

# CSS Grid Item

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## Child Elements (Items)

A grid *container* contains grid *items*.

By default, a container has one grid item for each column, in each row, but you can style the grid items so that they will span multiple columns and/or rows.

---

##  

## The grid-column Property:

The `grid-column` property defines on which column(s) to place an item.

You define where the item will start, and where the item will end.

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**Note:** The `grid-column` property is a shorthand property for the `grid-column-start` and the `grid-column-end` properties.

To place an item, you can refer to *line numbers*, or use the keyword “span” to define how many columns the item will span.

### Example

Make “item1” start on column 1 and end before column 5:

      `.item1 {
  grid-column: 1 / 5;
}`

### Example

Make “item1” start on column 1 and span 3 columns:

             `.item1 {
  grid-column: 1 / span 3;
}`

### Example

Make “item2” start on column 2 and span 3 columns:

             `.item1 {
  grid-column: 1 / span 3;
}`

### Example

Make “item2” start on column 2 and span 3 column

             `.item2 {
  grid-column: 2 / span 3;
}`

## The grid-row Property:

The `grid-row` property defines on which row to place an item.

You define where the item will start, and where the item will end.

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**Note:** The `grid-row` property is a shorthand property for the `grid-row-start` and the `grid-row-end` properties.

To place an item, you can refer to *line numbers*, or use the keyword “span” to define how many rows the item will span:

### Example

Make “item1” start on row-line 1 and end on row-line 4:

      `.item1 {
  grid-row: 1 / 4;
}`

### Example

Make “item1” start on row 1 and span 2 rows:

             `.item1 {
  grid-row: 1 / span 2;
}`

## The grid-area Property

The `grid-area` property can be used as a shorthand property for the `grid-row-start`, `grid-column-start`, `grid-row-end` and the `grid-column-end` properties.

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### Example

Make “item8” start on row-line 1 and column-line 2, and end on row-line 5 and column line 6:

             `.item8 {
  grid-area: 1 / 2 / 5 / 6;
}`

### Example

Make “item8” start on row-line 2 and column-line 1, and span 2 rows and 3 columns:

             `.item8 {
  grid-area: 2 / 1 / span 2 / span 3;
}`

## Naming Grid Items

The `grid-area` property can also be used to assign names to grid items.

# The grid-area Property

You can use the *grid-area* property to name grid items.

You can refer to the name when you set up the grid layout, by using the *grid-template-areas* property on the grid container.

Item1, is called "myArea" and will take up the place of all five columns:

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### Example

Item1 gets the name “myArea” and spans all five columns in a five columns grid layout:

             `.item1 {
  grid-area: myArea;
}
.grid-container {
  grid-template-areas: 'myArea myArea myArea myArea myArea';
}`

Each row is defined by apostrophes (‘ ‘)

The columns in each row is defined inside the apostrophes, separated by a space.

**Note:** A period sign represents a grid item with no name.

### Example

Let “myArea” span two columns in a five columns grid layout (period signs represent items with no name):

              `.item1 {
  grid-area: myArea;
}
.grid-container {
  grid-template-areas: 'myArea myArea . . .';
}`

To define two rows, define the column of the second row inside another set of apostrophes:

### Example

Make “item1” span two columns *and* two rows:

              `.grid-container {
  grid-template-areas: 'myArea myArea . . .' 'myArea myArea . . .';
}`

### Example

Name all items, and make a ready-to-use webpage template:

             `.item1 { grid-area: header; }
.item2 { grid-area: menu; }
.item3 { grid-area: main; }
.item4 { grid-area: right; }
.item5 { grid-area: footer; }

.grid-container {
  grid-template-areas:
    'header header header header header header'
    'menu main main main right right'
    'menu footer footer footer footer footer';
}`

## The Order of the Items

The Grid Layout allows us to position the items anywhere we like.

The first item in the HTML code does not have to appear as the first item in the grid.

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### Example

             `.item1 { grid-area: 1 / 3 / 2 / 4; }
.item2 { grid-area: 2 / 3 / 3 / 4; }
.item3 { grid-area: 1 / 1 / 2 / 2; }
.item4 { grid-area: 1 / 2 / 2 / 3; }
.item5 { grid-area: 2 / 1 / 3 / 2; }
.item6 { grid-area: 2 / 2 / 3 / 3; }`

You can re-arrange the order for certain screen sizes, by using media queries:

  

### Example

             `@media only screen and (max-width: 500px) {
  .item1 { grid-area: 1 / span 3 / 2 / 4; }
  .item2 { grid-area: 3 / 3 / 4 / 4; }
  .item3 { grid-area: 2 / 1 / 3 / 2; }
  .item4 { grid-area: 2 / 2 / span 2 / 3; }
  .item5 { grid-area: 3 / 1 / 4 / 2; }
  .item6 { grid-area: 2 / 3 / 3 / 4; }
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