Creating a Three-Column Liquid Layout with a CSS Framework
Web-based frameworks are very popular these days. They provide programmers with a set of reusable components, usually packaged in the form of classes and functions, which allow them to build complex web applications very quickly and with minor efforts. In these tutorials you’ll find an approachable guide to how to build a simple CSS framework that will let you create some typical web page layouts in a very short time, using only a few basic style sheets.
Creating a Three-Column Liquid Layout with a CSS Framework - Building a three-column liquid layout (Page 4 of 4 )
Undoubtedly, the best way to understand how the CSS file coded before can be used for building a three-column web page layout is by setting up a concrete example. Below I included a sample (X)HTML file that demonstrates pretty clearly how this specific layout can be created.
Take a look at it, please:
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<h2>This is the header section of the web page</h2>
<p>Contents for header section go here. Contents for header section go here. Contents for header section go here. Contents for header section go here.</p>
</div>
<div id="navbar">
<h2>This is the navigation bar of the web page</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="#">Link 1</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Link 2</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Link 3</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Link 4</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Link 5</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Link 6</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div id="mainwrapper">
<div id="leftbar" class="leftcol">
<div class="box">
<div class="title">SECTION TITLE</div>
<div class="content">
<h2>Header goes here.</h2>
<p>Contents for left column go here. Contents for left column go here. Contents for left column go here. Contents for left column go here. Contents for left column go here. Contents for left column go here. Contents for left column go here. Contents for left column go here. Contents for left column go here. Contents for left column go here.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="box">
<div class="title">SECTION TITLE</div>
<div class="content">
<h2>Header goes here.</h2>
<p>Contents for left column go here. Contents for left column go here. Contents for left column go here. Contents for left column go here. Contents for left column go here. Contents for left column go here. Contents for left column go here. Contents for left column go here. Contents for left column go here. Contents for left column go here.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div id="centerbar" class="leftcol">
<div class="box">
<div class="title">SECTION TITLE</div>
<div class="content">
<h2>Header goes here.</h2>
<p>Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here.</p>
<p>Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here.</p>
<p>Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="box">
<div class="title">SECTION TITLE</div>
<div class="content">
<h2>Header goes here.</h2>
<p>Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here.</p>
<p>Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here.</p>
<p>Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here. Contents for center column go here.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div id="rightbar" class="rightcol">
<div class="box">
<div class="title">SECTION TITLE</div>
<div class="content">
<h2>This is the right column of the web page</h2>
<p>Contents for right column go here. Contents for right column go here. Contents for right column go here. Contents for right column go here. Contents for right column go here.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="box">
<div class="title">SECTION TITLE</div>
<div class="content">
<h2>This is the right column of the web page</h2>
<p>Contents for right column go here. Contents for right column go here. Contents for right column go here. Contents for right column go here. Contents for right column go here.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div id="footer">
<h2>This is the footer section of the web page</h2>
<p>Contents for footer section go here. Contents for footer section go here. Contents for footer section go here. Contents for footer section go here. Contents for footer section go here.</p>
</div>
</body>
</html>
As shown above, this sample (X)HTML file now displays an additional column that’s been placed on the right side of the web document. Plus, the other main columns have been moved to the left, in this manner creating the three-column liquid layout.
In addition, you’ll have a better idea of how this layout is actually displayed on screen if you look at the following picture:
Here you have it. At this point, I demonstrated how to extend the functionality of this CSS framework to build a few typical liquid web page layouts with extreme ease. As you learned before, creating a specific design is reduced to including the correct CSS file and nothing else.
My final recommendation is that you use all the code samples shown in this tutorial, so you can introduce your own modifications, and eventually improve the structure of the CSS framework.
Final thoughts
In this second chapter of this series, you hopefully learned how to improve the CSS framework to provide it with the capacity for constructing three-column web page layouts with minor hassles.
In the upcoming part, I’ll be explaining how to extend the structure of the framework so it can be used for working with fixed designs. The tutorial will be really insightful, so at this point you don’t have any excuses to miss it!
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Style Sheets 
Building a Simple CSS Framework
