How to Disable Equal Height Columns in Flexbox?

Extend your control with flex property

Want far more control over these rebel children? Set flex property to none to stop your flex child from feeling FOMO thinking it's missing out on the size party!

.flex-child {
  flex: none; /* "I'm perfect the way I am" */
}


Mastering the alignment control

One of the superpowers of Flexbox is the control it provides over alignment via two properties: align-items and align-self. Setting align-items to flex-start on the container stops the 'follow the leader' game, where columns stretch to match the tallest item.

.flex-container {
  display: flex;
  align-items: flex-start; /* "No stretching business here!" */
}


To gain dominance over each element's height, set align-self on individual items, abruptly stealing control from the container.

Design trends – Time to embrace the height diversity!

Modern design trends are campaigning for diversity and uniqueness in column heights. Flexbox's equal height columns feature is a great solution for the old-world problems. But as design trends evolve, one needs to adapt.

Bootstrap-enabled unequal heights

To create unique column heights on your Flexbox layout using Bootstrap 4, use the .align-items-start class. Goodbye uniformity!

<div class="d-flex align-items-start">
  <!-- put in your unique, non-identical twins here -->
</div>


Centering and alignment goodies

Want to vertically center items? align-items: center is your knight in shining armor.

.flex-container {
  display: flex;
  align-items: center; /* "Keep calm and stay centered" */
}


Center, Top, and control!

Keep in mind, if you are using align-self: flex-start on an item in a centered container, the item will align to the top, breaking away from the center pack.

From tables to Flexboxes

Older practices like using table-cells and negative margins to get equal height columns have been shown the door. Flexbox is here to stay! Disabling equal column heights is just as seamless as enabling it.

Getting hands dirty with practical experiments

Seeing is believing, right? Tools like Flexbox Froggy let you play around with different properties and see real-time alignment and dimension changes.

Beware of the challenges

When disabling equal heights, keep an eagle eye on:

• Content overflow: Is your content staying within its container?
• Responsiveness: Are the varying heights working flawlessly on different screen sizes?
• Cross-browser compatibility: Are all browsers aligning (see what I did there?) with your CSS jokes?

Testing is your best buddy here!