cssgridgenerator
Editorial

CSS Grid News Homepage Layout Generator

A lead story, secondary features and a sidebar of headlines — the front page, in one grid.

Open in
1140px

Drag across the grid to draw an area. Arrow keys nudge, Shift + arrows resize.

space to pan · ⌘scroll to zoom
1minmax(0, 2fr)2minmax(0, 1fr)3260px4
1auto2auto3
lead1 / 1 / 2 / 3
story-a2 / 1 / 3 / 2
story-b2 / 2 / 3 / 3
rail1 / 3 / 3 / 4

Reading orderAt Desktop, rail is the first thing seen but story-a is the first thing focused. Placement has moved the layout out of document order, so keyboard and screen reader users get a different sequence from everyone else.

Seenlead → rail → story-a → story-b

Focusedlead → story-a → story-b → rail

Usually the fix is in the markup, not in CSS: reorder the children so the HTML reads the way the page does, then place them back where you want them. Reaching for order or row-reverse instead moves the picture without moving the focus, which is the bug rather than the cure.

It is not always wrong. A full-height sidebar beside a topbar diverges by construction, and the accepted answer there is a skip link to the main content rather than a reordered document. WCAG 2.2 SC 1.3.2 asks that the sequence be meaningful — not that it be identical.

Named areas. The CSS is a picture of the layout, and only the properties that actually change get repeated inside each media query.

.news {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: 1fr;
  grid-template-rows: auto auto auto auto;
  gap: 20px;
  grid-template-areas:
    "lead"
    "story-a"
    "story-b"
    "rail";
}

.news > .lead { grid-area: lead; }
.news > .story-a { grid-area: story-a; }
.news > .story-b { grid-area: story-b; }
.news > .rail { grid-area: rail; }

@media (min-width: 960px) {
  .news {
    grid-template-columns: minmax(0, 2fr) minmax(0, 1fr) 260px;
    grid-template-rows: auto auto;
    gap: 28px;
    grid-template-areas:
      "lead    lead    rail"
      "story-a story-b rail";
  }
}

How this layout works

A news front page is a hierarchy made visible: the lead spans two columns and two rows, the secondaries take one cell each, and the headline rail runs the full height beside them. Size communicates importance before a single word is read.

Because every story is placed rather than flowed, the hierarchy survives the fold-down. On mobile the same six elements stack in editorial order — lead, secondaries, rail — instead of reflowing into whatever order the source happens to have.

If your stories come from a feed and the count varies, place only the lead and let the rest auto-flow with grid-auto-rows. Fixed placement for the hero, automatic for the tail, is the combination that survives a CMS.

Every property used here is listed in the CSS Grid cheat sheet, with the reason to reach for it.

Frequently asked questions

How do I build a news front page grid?
Place the lead story across two columns and two rows, give the secondary stories a cell each, and run a headline rail down the side. The size difference is the hierarchy; it is read before any of the words are.
What if the number of stories changes?
Place the lead explicitly and let the rest auto-flow with grid-auto-rows. Fixed placement for the hero and automatic flow for the tail is the combination that survives a CMS feeding it an unknown number of items.
How do I center a grid in CSS?
Use justify-content: center on the grid container to centre the whole grid inside it, and margin-inline: auto with a max-width to centre the container in the page. These are different jobs: the first moves the tracks within the container, the second moves the container itself.
How do I center items inside a CSS grid?
Set place-items: center on the container. That is shorthand for align-items plus justify-items, and it centres every item inside its own cell on both axes. For a single item, use place-self: center on that item instead.
How do I make a CSS grid responsive?
Use grid-template-columns: repeat(auto-fill, minmax(260px, 1fr)) and it reflows at every width with no media queries at all. Add breakpoints only when the exact column count matters, or when the layout has to change shape rather than just wrap.
When should I use CSS Grid instead of Flexbox?
Use Grid when things must line up in two directions at once, and Flexbox when content flows along one axis. A page skeleton or dashboard is Grid; a navbar or row of buttons is Flexbox. They nest: Grid for the page, Flexbox inside the cells.

How to use it

  1. Open the pattern

    The news homepage loads into the editor already responsive, with every breakpoint set up.

  2. Change the tracks

    Edit the column and row sizes in the Tracks panel. Anything valid in a track list works.

  3. Redraw at another width

    Move the ruler past a breakpoint marker and rearrange. Only the placement changes.

  4. Copy the code

    Take CSS, HTML, Tailwind or a shadcn component. The media queries are already written.

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