Is it possible to create a pinterest-like layout with Bootstrap only?

I am trying to the get my head around this for quite some time now:

Is it possible to create a pinterest Layout with Twitter Bootstrap only? I know there are jQuery Plugins like Masonry, but is there no way without them?

Thanks


Found a (free) template at http://bragthemes.com/demo/pinstrap/. It's supposed to have all you are asking for. Haven't had time to check it out, though.

Edit 2016-03-15: Bootstrap 4 allows this out of the box here. It's still in alpha, but we're getting there.


Found this solution, works within bootstrap (works even without defining column sizes), doesn't require javascript -- I snapped it into a project and it works beautifully:

http://www.bootply.com/118335

Bless you @katiejones!


EDIT: This is now out of the box in boostrap 4 http://v4-alpha.getbootstrap.com/components/card/#card-columns

Sure Thing. Took me a while to work out. Hope this helps!

Apologies for the code dump but its necessary to show the grid working.

<head>

<script type="text/javascript" src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.3/jquery.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/s.cdpn.io/123941/masonry.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/s.cdpn.io/123941/imagesLoaded.js"></script>




<!-- Latest compiled and minified CSS -->
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.3.5/css/bootstrap.min.css" integrity="sha512-dTfge/zgoMYpP7QbHy4gWMEGsbsdZeCXz7irItjcC3sPUFtf0kuFbDz/ixG7ArTxmDjLXDmezHubeNikyKGVyQ==" crossorigin="anonymous">

<!-- Optional theme -->
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.3.5/css/bootstrap-theme.min.css" integrity="sha384-aUGj/X2zp5rLCbBxumKTCw2Z50WgIr1vs/PFN4praOTvYXWlVyh2UtNUU0KAUhAX" crossorigin="anonymous">

<!-- Latest compiled and minified JavaScript -->
<script src="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.3.5/js/bootstrap.min.js" integrity="sha512-K1qjQ+NcF2TYO/eI3M6v8EiNYZfA95pQumfvcVrTHtwQVDG+aHRqLi/ETn2uB+1JqwYqVG3LIvdm9lj6imS/pQ==" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>




</head>

  <div class="container">


        <div class="row masonry-container">

          <div class="col-xs-6 col-sm-3 col-md-3 item">
            <div class="thumbnail">
              <img src="http://lorempixel.com/150/200/abstract" alt="">
              <div class="caption">
                <h3>Thumbnail label</h3>
                <p>Lorem ipsumLorem ipsum dolosit amet, consectetur adipisicing eli dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit. </p>

              </div>
            </div>
          </div><!--/.item  -->


          <div class="col-xs-6 col-sm-3 col-md-3 item">
            <div class="thumbnail">
              <img src="http://lorempixel.com/150/200/abstract" alt="">
              <div class="caption">
                <h3>Thumbnail label</h3>
                <p>Lorem ipsumLorem ipdolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing eli dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit. </p>

              </div>
            </div>
          </div><!--/.item  -->

          <div class="col-xs-6 col-sm-3 col-md-3 item">
            <div class="thumbnail">
              <img src="http://lorempixel.com/150/200/abstract" alt="">
              <div class="caption">
                <h3>Thumbnail label</h3>
                <p>Lorem ipsumLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing eliLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing eliLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing eli dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit. </p>

              </div>
            </div>
          </div><!--/.item  -->

          <div class="col-xs-6 col-sm-3 col-md-3 item">
            <div class="thumbnail">
              <img src="http://lorempixel.com/150/200/abstract" alt="">
              <div class="caption">
                <h3>Thumbnail label</h3>
                <p>Lorem ipsumLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing eliLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing eliLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing eli dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit. </p>

              </div>
            </div>
          </div><!--/.item  -->

          <div class="col-xs-6 col-sm-3 col-md-3 item">
            <div class="thumbnail">
              <img src="http://lorempixel.com/150/200/abstract" alt="">
              <div class="caption">
                <h3>Thumbnail label</h3>
                <p>Lorem ipsumLorem ipsum dolor ctetur adipisicing eli dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit. </p>

              </div>
            </div>
          </div><!--/.item  -->

             <div class="col-xs-6 col-sm-3 col-md-3 item">
            <div class="thumbnail">
              <img src="http://lorempixel.com/150/200/abstract" alt="">
              <div class="caption">
                <h3>Thumbnail label</h3>
                <p>Lorem ipsumLorem ipdolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing eli dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit. </p>

              </div>
            </div>
          </div><!--/.item  -->

          <div class="col-xs-6 col-sm-3 col-md-3 item">
            <div class="thumbnail">
              <img src="http://lorempixel.com/150/200/abstract" alt="">
              <div class="caption">
                <h3>Thumbnail label</h3>
                <p>Lorem ipsumLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing eliLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing eliLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing eli dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit. </p>

              </div>
            </div>
          </div><!--/.item  -->

          <div class="col-xs-6 col-sm-3 col-md-3 item">
            <div class="thumbnail">
              <img src="http://lorempixel.com/150/200/abstract" alt="">
              <div class="caption">
                <h3>Thumbnail label</h3>
                <p>Lorem ipsumLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing eliLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing eliLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing eli dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit. </p>

              </div>
            </div>
          </div><!--/.item  -->

          <div class="col-xs-6 col-sm-3 col-md-3 item">
            <div class="thumbnail">
              <img src="http://lorempixel.com/150/200/abstract" alt="">
              <div class="caption">
                <h3>Thumbnail label</h3>
                <p>Lorem ipsumLorem ipsum dolor ctetur adipisicing eli dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit. </p>

              </div>
            </div>
          </div><!--/.item  -->


        </div> <!--/.masonry-container  -->
      </div><!--/.tab-panel -->


<style type="text/css">
body {

  padding-top: 50px;
}

.main-container {
  padding: 10px 15px;
}

.p {
  text-align: center;
}



</style>


<script type="text/javascript">

/* Demo Scripts for Making Twitter Bootstrap 3 Tab Play Nicely With The Masonry Library
* on SitePoint by Maria Antonietta Perna
*/

//Initialize Masonry inside Bootstrap 3 Tab component 

(function( $ ) {

  var $container = $('.masonry-container');
  $container.imagesLoaded( function () {
    $container.masonry({
      columnWidth: '.item',
      itemSelector: '.item'
    });
  });

  //Reinitialize masonry inside each panel after the relative tab link is clicked - 
  $('a[data-toggle=tab]').each(function () {
    var $this = $(this);

    $this.on('shown.bs.tab', function () {

      $container.imagesLoaded( function () {
        $container.masonry({
          columnWidth: '.item',
          itemSelector: '.item'
        });
      });

    }); //end shown
  });  //end each

})(jQuery);


</script>

Yes, it is possible but with some limitations.

Principle

  • Each column is a div (or section depending upon the meaning of your layout)
  • Within each column each tile is also be a div, or img etc. depending upon your design.

Practice

To make the columns you can use the following various techniques:

  • float the columns
  • display: inline-block the columns
  • Use the new flexible box API (non-standard implementations are creeping into modern browsers)
  • Use the new grid positioning API (although I'd avoid this for now as it's not supported hardly at all)

Then place various tiles (divs) in each column. Again, depending upon your design/layout you could replace the column-divs with uls, and have a list of tiles (lis). I can't speak as to whether that is semantically correct for your design.

Limitations

  • Resizing the Pinterest page maintains the general position of most elements i.e. elements at the top of a column generally stays near the top, even when the number of columns is adjusted for the browser width - the pure CSS solution won't do that out of the box.

Work-Arounds

  • While not a perfect solution, you can use media queries to influence the position of various elements.

With some time, one could get pretty close to the Pinterest layout - that said, there's probably a good reason they chose to implement said layout with JavaScript.