Running Rails 4.1.4 with the latest releases of haml, haml-rails, sass, and bootstrap-sass. For a user display, my HAML is as such:

.tutors-listing
    .row
      - @users.each do |tutor|
        .col-xs-12.col-md-3
          .row.tutor
            .col-xs-offset-1.col-xs-4.col-md-12
              = image_tag tutor.photo, :class => 'img-responsive img-circle tutor-photo'
              %h4.tutor-name
                = tutor.first_name

             %p
                teaches
             %strong.tutor-skills
               = tutor.teachables

However, this markup results in the following glitch: Irregular column wrappingMore irregular column wrapping

I'm hoping somenone can devine what's wrong here. At the medium breakpoint, there should be 4 columns evenly.


This is caused by skills with 2 lines of text or more. It's a well-known bug when using float property. Here is a little picture to understand :

enter image description here

[Bootply] The issue

Option #1 : Force the height

Your first option is to force elements to have the same height :

.tutor {
    height: 500px;
}
  • [Pro] Simple and work everywhere
  • [Con] Use a magic number
  • [Con] Limit the number of lines in skills
  • [Con] Useless whitespaces on modile version

[Bootply] Force height

Option #2 : Use a clearfix

Your second option is to use a clearfix, and force the 5th element to be on a new line (same for the 9th, the 13th...) :

.tutors-listing > .row > .col-md-3:nth-child(4n+1) {
    clear: both;
}
  • [Pro] Doesn't limit the number of lines in skills
  • [Pro] No useless whitespaces
  • [Pro] No magic number
  • [Con] One CSS rule per size (xs/sm/md/lg)
  • [Con] The rule depends of your grid (.col-xx-3)

[Bootply] Clearfix


In my case I wanted to show 3 items per row on large screens, 2 on medium screens, and 1 on smaller screens.

You may also uncomment the background colors to verify when the effect is triggering.

http://www.bootply.com/QOor73wFAY#

/* fixes for columns wrapping in odd ways due to variable height */
/* when showing 2 items per row, clear #1, 3, 5 */
@media (min-width: $screen-sm-min){
    .cell-box:nth-child(2n+1){
        clear: both;
        /* background-color: rgba(0, 0, 255, .5); /* blue */
    }
}
/* when showing 3 items per row, clear #1, 4, 7 */
@media (min-width: $screen-md-min){
    .cell-box:nth-child(2n+1){
        clear: none;
    }
    .cell-box:nth-child(3n+1){
        clear: both;
        /* background-color: rgba(0, 255, 0, .5); /* green */
    }
}