In this demo, you are setting the width using clamp()
like so: width: clamp(<min>, <actual>, <max>)
.
This sets an absolute min and max size, and an actual size. With values, that can look like:
.parent {
width: clamp(23ch, 60%, 46ch);
}
The minimum size here is 23ch
or 23 character units, and the maximum size is 46ch
, 46 characters. Character width units are based on the font size of the element (specifically the width of the 0
glyph). The 'actual' size is 50%, which represents 50% of this element's parent width.
What the clamp()
function is doing here is enabling this element to retain a 50% width until 50% is either greater than 46ch
(on wider viewports), or smaller than 23ch
(on smaller viewports). In the video, watch how the width of this card increases to its clamped maximum point and decreases to its clamped minimum as the parent stretches and shrinks. It then stays centered in the parent using additional properties to center it. This enables more legible layouts, as the text won't be too wide (above 46ch
) or too squished and narrow (less than 23ch
).
You can use this technique to implement responsive typography. For example: font-size: clamp(1.5rem, 20vw, 3rem)
. In this case, the font-size of a headline would always stay clamped between 1.5rem
and 3rem
but would grow and shrink based on the 20vw
actual value to fit the width of of the viewport.
This is a great technique to ensure legibility with a minimum and maximum size value, but remember it is not supported in all modern browsers so make sure you have fallbacks and do your testing.
<div class="parent">
<div class="card">
<h1>Title Here</h1>
<div class="visual"></div>
<p>Descriptive Text. Lorem ipsum dolor sit, amet consectetur adipisicing elit. Sed est error repellat veritatis.</p>
</div>
</div>
.parent {
display: grid;
place-items: center;
}
.card {
width: clamp(23ch, 60%, 46ch);
display: flex;
flex-direction: column;
padding: 1rem;
}
.visual {
height: 125px;
width: 100%;
}