Free online CSS Grid generator with live visual preview. Set columns, rows, gaps, and alignment — get clean, copy-ready CSS and HTML instantly.
Grid Structure
Track Sizing
Alignment
CSS Grid Generator is a free browser-based tool that builds CSS Grid layout code through interactive controls. Adjust the number of columns and rows, set gap sizes, choose column and row sizing strategies, and configure item alignment — then copy the ready-to-use CSS and HTML directly into your project. The live visual preview updates instantly as you change any parameter, making it easy to experiment with layout ideas without writing a single line of code.
Use CSS Grid Generator when prototyping page layouts, card grids, dashboards, or any two-dimensional layout. It is especially useful for learning CSS Grid syntax — seeing how each property affects the visual result teaches the relationship between the code and the layout faster than documentation alone. Use it to quickly generate a starting point, then refine the output in your editor for more advanced cases like grid-area placement or responsive breakpoints.
Front-end developers and UI designers use CSS Grid Generator to scaffold equal-column layouts for blog post grids, product listing pages, and portfolio galleries; create responsive dashboard layouts with fixed sidebars and fluid content areas; prototype full-page layouts with header, sidebar, main, and footer zones; and generate the base grid for CSS-in-JS style objects in React or Vue components. The generated code is always standards-compliant and works in all modern browsers without vendor prefixes.
Essential terms and definitions related to CSS Grid Generator.
The element with display: grid applied. All direct children of a grid container become grid items. The grid container establishes a new grid formatting context and defines the grid's column and row structure via grid-template-columns and grid-template-rows.
A single row or column in a CSS Grid. Grid tracks are defined by grid-template-columns (for column tracks) and grid-template-rows (for row tracks). The space between grid lines is a track. The fr unit distributes available space proportionally among tracks.
The dividing lines that make up the structure of the grid. Lines run horizontally (row lines) and vertically (column lines). They are numbered starting from 1. You reference grid lines in grid-column and grid-row properties to position or span items across the grid.
Grid tracks automatically created when items are placed outside the explicitly defined grid. If you have a 3×2 grid but place an item in row 4, the browser creates implicit row tracks to accommodate it. Use grid-auto-rows and grid-auto-columns to control the size of these implicitly created tracks.
A flexible length unit unique to CSS Grid that represents a fraction of the available space in the grid container. After accounting for fixed-size and auto-size tracks, the remaining space is divided among fr-unit tracks in proportion to their fr values. 1fr 2fr 1fr divides space into 25%, 50%, and 25% respectively.
CSS Grid is a two-dimensional layout system that lets you place elements in rows and columns simultaneously. Use Grid when your layout has a defined structure in both axes — like page layouts, card grids, dashboards, and image galleries. Use Flexbox when you're laying out items in a single row or column with flexible sizing. Grid is better for macro layout; Flexbox is better for component-level alignment.
The "fr" (fraction) unit represents a fraction of the available space in the grid container. With grid-template-columns: repeat(3, 1fr), each column gets exactly one-third of the container width. With 1fr 2fr 1fr, the middle column gets twice as much space as each of the outer columns. The fr unit distributes remaining space after fixed-size and auto-size columns are accounted for.
The gap shorthand sets spacing between grid tracks. gap: 16px sets both row and column gaps to 16px equally. gap: 16px 24px sets row-gap to 16px and column-gap to 24px. Use row-gap and column-gap for independent control. Note: gap only applies between tracks — it does not add space on the outer edges of the grid container. Use padding on the container for outer spacing.
justify-items controls how grid items are aligned horizontally within their cells (along the inline/row axis). align-items controls vertical alignment within cells (along the block/column axis). Both default to "stretch", which makes items fill their entire cell. Set them to "start", "end", or "center" to control how items sit within their allocated grid area. Use justify-self and align-self on individual items to override per-item.
Yes. Use auto-fill or auto-fit with minmax() to create a responsive grid that automatically adjusts the number of columns: grid-template-columns: repeat(auto-fit, minmax(250px, 1fr)). This creates as many 250px+ columns as fit in the container, automatically wrapping to fewer columns on smaller screens — no media queries needed. auto-fill creates empty tracks if there are fewer items; auto-fit collapses empty tracks to zero.
auto makes a row height equal to the tallest content in that row — the row shrinks or grows with its content. 1fr divides the available height equally among rows, giving each row an equal share of the container height. Use auto for most content-driven layouts. Use 1fr when you want rows to fill the full container height equally, such as in full-height application layouts.
Yes. CSS Grid is supported in all modern browsers: Chrome 57+, Firefox 52+, Safari 10.1+, and Edge 16+. This covers over 97% of global users as of 2024. The generated CSS uses standard syntax with no vendor prefixes required. The only exception is Internet Explorer 11, which has partial Grid support using an older syntax — but IE11 is no longer supported by Microsoft.
Common errors developers encounter and how to resolve them.
Grid items overflowing their container This usually happens when using fixed pixel values for column templates (e.g., 200px) that sum to more than the container width. Switch to fr units (1fr) or use minmax(0, 1fr) instead of 1fr — the "0" minimum prevents overflow when content is wider than the track. Also check that the container itself has a defined width, especially in flex parents.
Grid not applying: display: grid has no visible effect The most common cause is that the grid container has no height and the content does not define it. For rows with fr units to work, the container needs a defined height (height: 100vh or height: 500px). Check that the selector .grid-container matches your actual HTML element. Also verify there are no conflicting display rules from parent styles.
Items not spanning multiple columns or rows as expected grid-column: 1 / span 2 means "start at column 1 and span 2 tracks". Make sure the span value does not exceed the total number of grid columns. Also check for implicit grid creation: if grid-auto-flow creates extra tracks, explicit placement may not behave as expected. Use the browser DevTools Grid inspector to visualize the actual grid lines.