Global layout stack

The Stack component (see Every Layout) is a layout primitive for apportioning equal space between sibling block elements. It is an antidote to adding margin to individual components—without consideration of context—resulting in missing or unnecessary white space.

Branding

The global-layout-stack component can be used in any brand context. You just need to import the component itself:

@import '@springernature/global-layout-stack/scss/10-settings/default';
@import '@springernature/global-layout-stack/scss/50-components/layout-stack';

Usage

Default settings

By default, an element with class="l-stack" will add a space/gap of 1.5em (one line) between each of its child elements. Any existing margin is removed. The child elements can be any element type.

<div class="l-stack">
    <p>child 1</p>
    <blockquote>child 2</blockquote>
    <p>child 3</p>
    <figure>child 4</figure>
</div>

Custom gap

The global-layout-stack component’s gap setting is mapped to a CSS custom property, meaning you can alter it inline. In the following example, the gap is 3em.

<div class="l-stack" style="--stack--gap: 3rem">
    <p>child 1</p>
    <blockquote>child 2</blockquote>
    <p>child 3</p>
    <figure>child 4</figure>
</div>

Note that older browsers inject margin, but newer browsers use the gap property with Flexbox. Since IE11 (for example) does not support custom properties, the default gap/margin will remain.

Nesting

<div class="l-stack" style="--stack--gap: 3em">
    <p>child 1</p>
    <blockquote>child 2</blockquote>
    <p>child 3</p>
    <figure>child 4</figure>
    <div class="l-stack" style="--stack--gap: 0.5em">
        <div>tightly</div>
        <div>stacked</div>
        <div>elements</div>
    </div>
</div>