960 Grid System - Compass Plugin

960.gs is created by Nathan Smith. See the official site for more info: http://960.gs/

• This plugin is consistent with latest version of 960.gs as of 3/14/2011

This plugin adds the 960 Grid System framework to Compass.

Install

gem install compass-960-plugin

Create a 960-based Compass Project

compass create -r ninesixty my_project --using 960

Or, If you prefer to use Sass's indentation based syntax:

compass create -r ninesixty my_project --using 960 --syntax sass

Then edit your grid.sass and text.sass files accordingly. A reset is added into grid.sass automatically.

Adding the 960 plugin to an existing project

Add the following to your compass.rb config file:

# Require any additional compass plugins here.
require 'ninesixty'

Then make sure you have imported the grid library into your core .sass or .scss file with:

@import compass/reset
@import 960/grid

Customizing your Grid System

This plugin uses the following configuration variables:

• $ninesixty-columns (default: 12) controls the default number of grid columns
• $ninesixty-grid-width (default: 960px) controls the default overall grid width
• $ninesixty-gutter-width (default: 20px) controls the default gutter width
• $ninesixty-class-separator (default: '_') sets the word separator for classnames generated by +grid-system

All of the mixins included with this plugin use these configuration variables as defaults if the corresponding argument is omitted from a mixin call.

Class-Based Grid System

To create a grid system that works like the original 960 Grid System framework use the +grid-system-complete mixin to generate the corresponding classes. You can also customize the number of columns as demonstrated:

Example:

+grid-system-complete(24)

If you want to scope the grid inside a specific set of selectors or control your container class' name you can use the +grid-system mixin instead.

Example:

#wrap
  .my_container
    +grid-system(16)

This will render all of the grid system nested below your selector, replacing the normal function of the container class (would be .container_16 in this example).

Making Semantic Grids

To create a grid system using only CSS, use the following semantic grid mixins:

• Use the +grid-container mixin to declare your container element.
• Use the +grid(N, columns, gutter-width) mixin to declare a grid element.
• Use the +alpha and +omega mixins to declare the first and last grid elements for a row.
• Use the +grid-prefix(N, columns) and +grid-suffix(N, columns) mixins to add empty grid columns before or after a grid element.
• Use the +grid-push(N, columns) and +grid-pull(N, columns) mixins to move a grid element from its default position.

N is the number of grid columns to span as in grid_N or push_N with the original 960 Grid System framework.

Example:

$ninesixty-columns: 16

#wrap
  +grid-container
  #header
    +grid(16)
  #middle
    +grid(16)
    #left-nav
      +grid(5)
      +alpha
    #main-content
      +grid-prefix(1)
      +grid(10)
      +omega

Authors/Contributors

Chris Eppstein is the creator of Compass, a core contributor to Sass and the father of this plugin.

Nathan Smith is the author of 960.gs, the grid system this plugin is based on. He's also kind enough to let us pester him with questions from time to time.

These days, Matt Sanders is probably the best person chat with if you've found a bug or want to get a patch included.

We've also been lucky enough to have some help from a number of other contributors.