What Are The Grid Types?

In the world of web design, there are several useful grid types. There are different layout grids that are essential for a good and attractive web design. The layout grids allow you to organize and position the visual elements of your web page in a way that looks visually appealing and easy to follow. In other words, layout grids guide the designers about the proper placement of different visual elements on the page. As a result, these grids help improve the conversion rate. 

There are also JavaScript data grids, like big data grids. These allow you to organize and display large data sets on the front end in an easy-to-understand manner. For example, you can use a React grid to efficiently display big data in a React app. A React grid layout example is Sencha’s GRUI grid. 

This article will explore different layout grid types and when to use them. We’ll also discuss the best way to create data grids. 

What Is A Layout Grid?

A layout is the placement and arrangement of different visual elements on a web page. It is essentially the invisible internal structure or skeleton that describes where and how you should place the elements in the user interface. For example, you can use a layout design to place images, text, and any design element in an orderly way. It also ensures all the screens you’re designing have the same internal structure so that they appear consistent. All in all, a website layout makes your web design visually appealing and consistent.

Grids are the fundamental part of web layouts. They enable designers to split pages vertically and horizontally using columns and rows. You can use one or multiple grids in a layout design, depending on what you need to achieve. Today, almost all designers use different layout grid types for efficient web design and to enhance user experience.

What Are The Different Parts Or Components Of Layout Grids?

A layout grid consists of several components. Here are the key parts of a grid layout:

Format

The format is the entire grid area where the final design is laid out. For instance, in web design, the browser window is the format.

Margins

The empty spaces between the format’s edges and the content’s outer edge are called margins. The size of the margins defines the overall shape of the content, and is different for mobile and desktop.

Columns

Columns are essentially the vertical regions or sections that span the space between the top and bottom margins.

Rows

Rows are the horizontal regions or sections that span the space between the right and left margins.

Gutters

Gutters are the spaces or lines between rows and columns. For a good visual balance, you need to ensure that there are an equal number of gutters between different rows and columns. The most common gutter size is 20px. 

Modules

The intersection of rows and columns creates spaces called modules. They are the fundamental part of a grid and are often referred to as content modules. Vertical modules form columns, while the horizontal ones create rows.

What Are The Different Layout Grid Types?

Here are the five grid types:

Manuscript Grid

Manuscript grids, also known as block grids, are the simplest type of layout grids. These grids have a single column, enclosed by margins, where you can arrange one or more elements vertically. They are useful when there are continuous blocks of text.

The manuscript grid layout design is present in a Word document or a presentation template by default. In text documents, these grids help separate the footer, the header, and the space on the margins, creating a rectangle inside the page. These are mostly invisible in text documents. However, document editors like MS Word provide an option to make them visible.

In terms of website design, manuscript grids are mostly used for blog pages or single post pages. Sometimes full-width images like cover images also use these grids.

Column Grid

The column grid layout design allows designers to arrange and organize visual elements into columns. These grids can have a minimum of two columns, whereas there is no limit for the maximum number of columns. However, website design usually consists of 6, 9, or 12 columns.

You’ll often find column grids in magazines and academic books for placing the text in a way that is easy to read. However, websites like online newspapers and blogs also use these grids. 

There are two main types of column grids, symmetric and asymmetric. In symmetric grids, all the columns have the same width. In contrast, some columns in asymmetric grids are wider and proportionally thinner than others.

Modular Grid

A modular grid consists of both columns and rows, allowing for the proper placement of a large number of elements. All the modules in modular grids have the same size. Newspapers often use modular grids to organize different stories in an easy-to-read manner. These grids are also used in web design when you need to organize several elements. For example, e-commerce websites use modular grids to display a wide range of items on a category page.

Baseline Grid

A baseline is the bottom of each line where the text sits. You can use the baseline grid design layout with any of the above grid types to give a consistent rhythm to the text. This grid also gives a proportional space to the headings and subheadings of your content in relation to the paragraph text.

Hierarchical Grids

Hierarchical grids involve the spontaneous placing of design or visual elements among rows and columns. As a result, the widths of the columns and the heights of the rows vary throughout the grid. These grids are pretty common in web design.

Why Are Grids Important In Web Design?

Here is why adding grids to your workflow could significantly improve your designs and processes:

Speeds Up The Design Process

Grids, when used properly, can significantly speed up and improve your design process. When you use grids, you don’t have to waste your valuable time deciding where and how you should place different web visual elements. 

Better Visual Hierarchy

Visual hierarchy means organizing your web page elements by their importance. A grid makes the hierarchical process quicker and easier.

Helps Balance Your Design

One of the key principles of design is balance, which means correctly distributing the visual elements on both sides of the design. Grids can help you ensure your page has the right and consistent design balance. 

Encourage White Space

White space is one of the most popular trends in modern web design, and grids can help you add that to your design. For example, you can leave some grids empty so that they can be filled with white space.

How Can I Add Data Grids To My Website?

If you’re looking to add efficient data grids with fast processing to your website, Sencha is the best choice. Sencha is one of the leading JavaScript frameworks that offers over 140 pre-built UI components. These include buttons, trees, menus, forms, D3 visualizations, tabs, and more. Additionally, Sencha also offers high-performance data grid types and layouts.

Fast JS Grid

Sencha Ext JS comes with one of the faster JS grids for creating data-intensive web apps. It allows you to create basic grids, locking grids, XML grids, grouped grids, and infinite grids. You can edit cells and rows, sort grids by ascending or descending order, and more. These high-performance grids can process big data quickly. 

React Grid

Sencha offers a separate React grid layout called GRUI for enterprise-grade React web apps. The grid has 100+ React data grid features that are pre-tested on different browsers and platforms. It supports grouping, infinite scrolling, filtering, virtual columns, and much more. GRUI grid also offers complete customization control of styling and theming.

Layouts

Sencha Ext JS has several layouts that help you build a proper layout for your web app. These layouts help with the proper sizing and positioning of all the UI components.

Ready to add high-performance grids to your website? Sign up for Sencha today!