How can I have a sticky footer with my CSS Grid layout?

Question

I found this CodePen solution for a sticky footer in a CSS Grid layout, but it has two problems for me:

1. It is kinda ugly with min-height: 100% a

Answer 1

Here is a CSS Grid solution, but it's far better using a class for the target.
Using grid-areas this will be very straightforward:

html,body{
  height: 100%;
}
body{
  margin: 0;
}
body {
  display: grid;
  grid-gap: 10px;
  height: 100%;
  grid-template-columns:1fr;
  grid-template-areas:
            "nav"
            "main"
            "footer";
  grid-template-rows: 100px 1fr 80px;
}
nav {
  grid-area: nav;
}

main {
  grid-area: main;
}

footer {
  grid-area: footer;
}
nav {
  background-color: #7E57C2;
}
main {
  background-color: #F8BBD0;
}
footer {
  background-color: #7E57C2;
}

https://codepen.io/whisher/pen/vWmvQw

Answer 2

Sticky footer is achieved with a single line of CSS, namely: min-height: 100vh.

Example below:

body {
    width: 100%;
    height: 100%;
    margin: 0;
    display: grid;
    grid-template-columns: [column-line-1] minmax(128px, 256px) [column-line-2] auto [column-line-3] minmax(128px, 256px) [column-line-4];
    grid-template-rows: [row-line-1] 48px [row-line-2] auto [row-line-3] auto [row-line-4] auto [row-line-5] auto [row-line-6];
    background:#fafafa;
    /*Below provides sticky footer*/
    min-height: 100vh;
}

body > aside {
    background:#9e9e9e;
}

body > aside > section {
    margin: 0px 12px 0px 12px;
}

body > header {
    display: flex;
    flex-flow: row wrap;
    justify-content: center;
    align-content: center;
    align-items: flex-start;
}

body > header > section {
    flex: 1 1 auto;
    align-self: center;
    min-width: 100%;
    min-height:48px;    
}

body > header > nav {
    flex: 0 1 auto;
    align-self: auto;
    min-width: 100%;
    min-height:48px;
    
    display: flex;
    flex-flow: row nowrap;
    align-content: center;
    align-items: center;
    
    margin-left:12px;
    margin-right:12px;
}

body > header > nav > section {
    flex: 1 1 auto;
    align-self: center;
    
    display: flex;
    flex-flow: row nowrap;    
    align-content: center;
    align-items: center;
    
    height:auto;
    width:50%;
}

body > header > nav > section:nth-of-type(1) {
    justify-content: flex-start;
}

body > header > nav > section:nth-of-type(2) {
    justify-content: flex-end;
}

body > header > nav > section > div {
    flex: 0 1 auto;
    align-self:center;
    
    display: flex;
    flex-flow: row nowrap;    
    align-content: center;
    align-items: center;  
    justify-content: center;
    
    margin: 0px 12px 0px 12px;
}

body > main {
    background:#e3f2fd;
    
}

body > main > section {
    margin: 0px 12px 0px 12px;
}

body > nav {
    
    background:#e0e0e0;
}
body > nav > section {
    display: grid;
    margin: 0px 12px 0px 12px;
}

body > footer {
    grid-column-start: column-line-1;
    grid-column-end: column-line-4;
    grid-row: row-line-5;
    background:#eeeeee;

}

body > footer > section {
    margin: 0px 12px 0px 12px;
}


@media screen and (max-width: 479px) {
    header {
        grid-column-start: column-line-1;
        grid-column-end: column-line-4;
    }
    main {
        grid-column-start: column-line-1;
        grid-column-end: column-line-4;
        grid-row: row-line-2;
    }
    aside {
        grid-column-start: column-line-1;
        grid-column-end: column-line-4;
        grid-row: row-line-3;
    }
    nav {
        grid-column-start: column-line-1;
        grid-column-end: column-line-4;
        grid-row: row-line-4;
    }
}

@media screen and (min-width: 480px) and (max-width: 639px) {
    nav {
        grid-column: column-line-1;
        grid-row: row-line-2;
    }
    aside {
        grid-column: column-line-1;
        grid-row-start: row-line-3;
        grid-row-end: row-line-5;
    }
    main {
        grid-column: column-line-2 / column-line-4;
        grid-row-start: row-line-1;
        grid-row-end: row-line-5;
    }
}

@media screen and (min-width: 640px) {
    header {
        grid-column-start: column-line-1;
        grid-column-end: column-line-4;
    }
    nav {
        grid-column: column-line-1;
        grid-row-start: row-line-2;
        grid-row-end: row-line-5;
    }
    aside {
        grid-column: column-line-3;
        grid-row-start: row-line-2;
        grid-row-end: row-line-5;
    }
    main {
        grid-column: column-line-2;
        grid-row-start: row-line-2;
        grid-row-end: row-line-5;
    }
}

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<!-- 
    Created by Ron Royston, https://rack.pub, © 2018 MIT License
    Available online at https://github.com/rhroyston/html5
        
        ⚠ NO COMMENTS ABOVE DOCTYPE declaration.
        
        ⚠ Consider page viewing experience across device types, sometimes called Responsive Web Design, RWD.
        
        ⚐ Mozilla Developer Network HTML ELEMENT REFERENCE
            https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element
            
        ⚐ Validate HTML with The W3C Markup Validation Service
            https://validator.w3.org/
            
        ⚐ Favicon image displays in browser tab
            http://realfavicongenerator.net/
-->

<head>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge">
    <!-- Mobile viewing enhancement -->
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
    <!-- ⚠ Description should be roughly 155 characters, no double quotes, use keywords -->
    <meta name="description" content="CSS Responsive Grid Layout. Simple. Clean. Golden." />
    <!-- ⚠ Format as Primary Keyword - Secondary Keyword | Brand Name, keep under 55 characters -->
    <title>Golden Grid - CSS Responsive Grid Layout. Simple. Clean. Golden.</title>
    
</head>
<body class="mdc-typography">
    <header>
        <nav>
            <section>
                <div>
                    <img src="//intrest.run/media/character.png" height="24px">
                </div>
            </section>
            <section>
                <div>
                    <button>
                        Sign In
                    </button>
                </div>
            </section>
        </nav>
    </header>
    <main>
        <section>
            <h4>Page Name</h4>
        </section>      
        
        <section>
            <p>2 Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.</p>    
        </section>
        
        <section>
            <p>3 Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.</p>    
        </section>

    </main>
    <nav>
        <section>
            <!--
                This area is normally on the left hand side of page
            -->
            <h3>Navigation</h3>
            <a href="#">Home</a>
            <a href="#">Chapter 1</a>
            <a href="#">Chapter 2</a>
            <a href="#">Chapter 3</a>
            <a href="#">Chapter 4</a>
        </section>
    </nav>
    <aside>
        <!--
            This area is normally on the right hand side of page
        -->
        <section>
            <h3>Sidebar</h3>
            <p>Aside Element. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.</p>
        </section>
    </aside>
    <footer>
        <section>
            <h3>Footer</h3>
            <p>Footer Element. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.</p>
        </section>
    </footer>
</body>

</html>

Answer 3

The trick is to use:

min-height: 100vh; grid-template-rows: auto auto 1fr; with...

align-self: end; for the footer.

If we add left/right margins, place the <nav> in a header, add a margin for the footer content and assume another grid for the main content:

    body {
        display: grid;
        grid-gap: 1em 0;
        grid: auto auto 1fr / 10vw 1fr 10vw;
        margin: 0;
        min-height: 100vh;
    }

    header {
        grid-column: 2;
    }

    main {
        display: grid;
        grid-column: 2;
    }

    footer {
        align-self: end;
        grid-column: 2;
        margin-bottom: 1em;
    }

This has elegant simplicity that previous solutions lack.

With evergreen browsers there is no need to complicate matters.

Previous answers are not as maintainable. Pitfalls include:

• Forcing header/footer to fixed pixel dimensions.
• Using grid areas instead of a simpler grid definition. There are bonus points for combining grid-template-rows and grid-template-columns into a one-liner.
• Extensive 'width/height/min-height: 100%' definitions everywhere on html and body tags. This might have made sense when IE6 ruled the roost but is not needed with modern browsers.
• Using flexbox layout. This is not the layout engine of the future. CSS grid will be what I want to maintain in five years time.
• Using pixels and percentages. What is a pixel? Who knows when there are retina screens and high-res phone screens. I used to like pixels but there are other units that make more sense, 'vw/vh/vmin/vmax' plus 'em/rem'. The percentage measurement is on its way out too for CSS grid so best to get out of the habit.

Answer 4

CSS Grid is a great tool for putting together complex layouts.

But you're looking for a simple one-column grid, with three rows, and the footer pinned to the bottom of the container.

I would suggest that flexbox is a simpler and more efficient solution in this case. (You can always use Grid within each flex item.)

// Not required!
// This is just to demo functionality.

$("#add").on("click", function() {
  $("<p>Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Vestibulum tortor quam, feugiat vitae, ultricies eget, tempor sit amet, ante. Donec eu libero sit amet quam egestas semper. Aenean ultricies mi vitae est. Mauris placerat eleifend leo.</p>").appendTo("p");
});

body {
  display: flex;
  flex-direction: column;
  min-height: 100vh;
  margin: 0;
}

nav {
  flex: 0 0 100px;
  background-color: lightgreen;
}

main {
  background-color: orangered;
}

footer {
  flex: 0 0 100px;
  margin-top: auto; /* pin footer to the bottom; see link below for details */
  background-color: lightgray;
}

nav, main, footer {
  display: flex;
  align-items: center;
  justify-content: center;
  text-align: center;
}

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<nav>Nav</nav>
<main>
  <p><button id="add">Add Content</button></p>
</main>
<footer>Footer</footer>

revised codepen

For more information about flex auto margins, see this post:

• In CSS Flexbox, why are there no "justify-items" and "justify-self" properties?