Layout & Sizing

Build responsive layouts visually, then copy the CSS.

Flexbox, Grid, fluid clamp() sizing, and spacing scales — drag the controls, watch the preview, copy the CSS.

5 tools available

Flexbox Playground

Popular

Experiment with flex properties and see the CSS update live

Grid Generator

Define CSS Grid rows, columns, and gaps with a live preview

Clamp Calculator

Popular

Generate fluid CSS clamp() values for responsive typography and spacing

Spacing Scale Generator

Generate a modular spacing scale with CSS custom properties

Viewport Debugger

Live read-out of viewport size, visualViewport, safe-area insets, and DPR

4 min read

What are layout tools?

Layout tools are visual editors for the CSS properties that decide where things sit on a page — Flexbox, Grid, fluid sizing with clamp(), and spacing scales. You drag the controls, the preview updates instantly, and you copy the exact CSS to drop into your stylesheet.

The point is to make CSS layout something you see before you ship. Instead of writing justify-content: space-between, refreshing, scrolling back, and tweaking, you change the value once and the preview tells you whether it's right.

When to use them

Prototyping a component — try five different flex configurations on a navbar in under a minute, then copy the one that works.
Learning a property you don't use often — align-content, grid-auto-flow, flex-basis. A slider beats reading the spec.
Picking fluid type sizes — give the calculator a min and max font size at a min and max viewport width and it returns the clamp() declaration.
Setting up a spacing system — pick a base size and a ratio, get a full set of CSS custom properties for margins, padding, and gaps.
Design handoff — copy the generated CSS straight from the tool into your component file.

Common layout tasks our tools handle

Flexbox playground — interactive editor for flex-direction, justify-content, align-items, flex-wrap, and gap, with a live preview of multiple items.
Grid generator — set grid-template-columns and grid-template-rows from presets or freeform input, see the resulting grid, copy the CSS.
Clamp calculator — generates font-size: clamp(min, preferred, max) for fluid type that scales between two viewport widths.
Spacing scale generator — produces --space-0 through --space-N custom properties using a modular ratio (1.125, 1.25, 1.333, etc.).

Flexbox vs Grid — a quick decision guide

The rule of thumb most people learn — "Flexbox is one-dimensional, Grid is two-dimensional" — is correct but not very actionable. A more practical version:

Use Flexbox when the content drives the layout. Navbars, button groups, card footers, anything where items size themselves and you just need them aligned along a single axis.
Use Grid when the layout drives the content. Page templates, dashboards, photo galleries — anywhere you've drawn boxes on paper before writing markup.
Use both in the same component. A Grid page layout with Flexbox cards inside it is the most common pattern in modern design systems — Flexbox and Grid are complements, not competitors.

Open the Flexbox playground and the Grid generator side by side — once you've placed five items in each, the difference becomes obvious.

What makes SnipKit's layout tools different

SnipKit's layout tools are built around four principles:

No sign-up, ever. Open the page, drag the controls, copy the CSS.
Live preview. Every property change updates the preview instantly — see exactly what flex-wrap or grid-template-columns is doing before you ship it.
Your work persists. Build a flex layout, close the tab, come back next week and pick up where you left off — every tool saves its state to your browser's localStorage.
Clean output. The CSS you copy is the CSS you see. No wrapper classes, no utility soup, no "generated by" comments.

On the roadmap

Container query unit support in the clamp calculator (cqi, cqw, cqh) — today the formula is viewport-based only.
Subgrid support in the grid generator.
Logical property output mode for spacing and grid (margin-block, padding-inline, and the logical equivalents of grid-template-rows).

Frequently asked questions

Are these tools free?

Yes. Every tool on SnipKit is free to use, with no accounts, no trials, and no paywall.

Do I need to create an account?

No. SnipKit has no sign-up flow at all. Open the site, use the tool, copy the code.

Will my browser store my work?

Yes. Each tool saves your current state to your browser's localStorage so you can come back later or refresh without losing progress. Nothing is sent to a server. Clearing your browser data removes the saved state.

Can I use the generated code commercially?

Yes. Anything you generate is yours — no license, no attribution required. Use it in client work, personal projects, or commercial products.

When should I use Flexbox vs CSS Grid?

Flexbox is best for one-dimensional layouts — a row of buttons, a nav bar, items aligned along a single axis. Grid is best for two-dimensional layouts where you need to control both rows and columns at once, like a page layout or a card gallery. Most real interfaces use both: Grid for the page-level structure, Flexbox for the components inside it. Our flexbox playground and grid generator let you experiment with each before committing.

What does the clamp calculator generate?

A viewport-based clamp() value for fluid sizing — typically used for font-size that scales smoothly between two screen widths. The formula uses vw units, so the output adapts to the viewport, not to a parent container. Container query unit support (cqi, cqw) is on the roadmap.