Colcade

Lightweight masonry layout

Colcade vs. Masonry

Masonry is great, but it has grown big as it has grown older. Colcade is designed to be small & fast. I recommend using Colcade over Masonry, but read over this feature comparison.

Same features

• Masonry grid layout
• Works as a jQuery plugin or with vanilla JS
• Initialize in HTML

Better features

• Much smaller. 1/8 the size of Masonry
• Better fluid/responsive layout, using native browser positioning
• One file, no dependencies, no package dist built file
• Does not require imagesLoaded when using images

Worse features

• No multi-column-spanning items

OK                |  No
####  ####  ####  |  ##########  ####
####  ####  ####  |  ##########  ####
      ####        |
####        ####  |  ####  ##########
####  ####  ####  |  ####  ##########
####  ####  ####  |  ####
      ####        |

• No built-in item transitions for layout, appending, prepending, or removing
• No stamps
• No fitWidth centering

Install

Download: colcade.js

CDN:

<script src="https://unpkg.com/colcade@0/colcade.js"></script>

npm: npm install colcade

Bower: bower install colcade

Demos

• Basic, HTML init
• jQuery
• Vanilla JS
• Images

Usage

Colcade works by moving item elements into column elements.

HTML

<div class="grid">
  <!-- columns -->
  <div class="grid-col grid-col--1"></div>
  <div class="grid-col grid-col--2"></div>
  <div class="grid-col grid-col--3"></div>
  <div class="grid-col grid-col--4"></div>
  <!-- items -->
  <div class="grid-item">...</div>
  <div class="grid-item">...</div>
  <div class="grid-item">...</div>
  ...
</div>

CSS

Sizing of the columns is handled by your own CSS. Change the number of columns by hiding or showing them.

/* Using floats */
.grid-col {
  float: left;
  width: 50%;
}

/* 2 columns by default, hide columns 2 & 3 */
.grid-col--2, .grid-col--3 { display: none }

/* 3 columns at medium size */
@media ( min-width: 768px ) {
  .grid-col { width: 33.333%; }
  .grid-col--2 { display: block; } /* show column 2 */
}

/* 4 columns at large size */
@media ( min-width: 1080px ) {
  .grid-col { width: 25%; }
  .grid-col--3 { display: block; } /* show column 3 */
}

Edit float demo on CodePen

/* with flexbox */
.grid {
  display: -webkit-box;
  display: -webkit-flex;
  display: -ms-flexbox;
  display: flex;
}

.grid-col {
  -webkit-box-flex: 1;
  -webkit-flex-grow: 1;
  -ms-flex-positive: 1;
  flex-grow: 1;
}

/* 2 columns by default, hide columns 2 & 3 */
.grid-col--2, .grid-col--3 { display: none }

/* 3 columns at medium size */
@media ( min-width: 768px ) {
  .grid-col--2 { display: block; } /* show column 2 */
}

/* 4 columns at large size */
@media ( min-width: 1080px ) {
  .grid-col--3 { display: block; } /* show column 3 */
}

Edit flexbox demo on CodePen

Initialize Colcade

Set selectors for column and item elements in the options.

With jQuery. Edit jQuery demo on CodePen

$('.grid').colcade({
  columns: '.grid-col',
  items: '.grid-item'
})

With vanilla JS. Edit vanilla JS demo on CodePen

// element as first argument
var grid = document.querySelector('.grid');
var colc = new Colcade( grid, {
  columns: '.grid-col',
  items: '.grid-item'
});

// selector string as first argument
var colc = new Colcade( '.grid', {
  columns: '.grid-col',
  items: '.grid-item'
});

With HTML. Edit HTML demo on CodePen

<div class="grid" data-colcade="columns: .grid-col, items: .grid-item">
  ...
</div>

Methods

append

Add items to end of layout.

// jQuery
$grid.colcade( 'append', items )
// vanilla JS
colc.append( items )

prepend

Add items to beginning of layout.

// jQuery
$grid.colcade( 'prepend', items )
// vanilla JS
colc.prepend( items )

destroy

Remove Colcade behavior completely.

// jQuery
$grid.colcade('destroy')
// vanilla JS
colc.destroy()

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By David DeSandro

MIT License. Have at it.