Align 2 items side-by-side in a flex column

Question

I am very new to flex. But I'm loving it so far. The question I have is, how do I align two items side-by-side when the parent has flex-direction: column;?

I have pasted my HTML and Sass code here along with screenshots.

I have a form like so:

// manage.html
<div class="form2" hidden>
  <div class="message" hidden></div>
  <form id="updateUserForm" action="https://someaction.com" method="POST">
    <label class="userInfo"></label>
    <input type="text" name="userFirstName" class="userFirstName" placeholder="First Name">
    <input type="text" name="userLastName" class="userLastName" placeholder="Last Name">
    <input type="text" name="subTag" class="subTag" placeholder="Title, benefits, companies, expertise">
    <input type="text" name="subLocation" class="subLocation" placeholder="City, state, zipe code or country">
    <a href="./manage.html" class="cancelLink">Cancel</a>
    <button type="submit " class="updateButton"></button>
  </form>
</div>

That is styled like so:

// style.scss
.form2 {
    #updateUserForm {
        display: flex;
        flex-direction: column;
    }
    label {
        text-align: center;
    }
    input {
        border-style: solid;
        border-color: $black;
        color: $black;
        font-size: 16px;
        padding: 10px 14px;
        text-align: left;
        margin: 4px 2px;
    }
    input:focus::-webkit-input-placeholder {
        color: transparent;
    }
    input:focus:-moz-placeholder {
        color: transparent;
    }
    input:focus::-moz-placeholder {
        color: transparent;
    }
    input:focus:-ms-input-placeholder {
        color: transparent;
    }
    a,
    button {
        border: none;
        color: $white;
        background-color: $blue;
        padding: 12px 16px;
        text-align: center;
        text-decoration: none;
        font-size: 16px;
        margin: 4px 2px;
        display: inline-block;
        align-self: flex-start;
        cursor: pointer;
    }
}

Here is the output:

I would like to align 'Cancel' link and 'Reactivate' button side by side. I tried the following:

// style.scss
a {
  align-self: flex-start;
}
button {
  align-self: flex-end;
}

This only slides the elements to left and right respectively without being on the same line. Here is the output I wish to get:

Any suggestions on how to reach my expected output?

Answer 1

Just place them in a container and change direction.

#updateUserForm {
        display: flex;
        flex-direction: column;
    }
    label {
        text-align: center;
    }
    input {
        border-style: solid;
        border-color: black;
        color: black;
        font-size: 16px;
        padding: 10px 14px;
        text-align: left;
        margin: 4px 2px;
    }
    input:focus::-webkit-input-placeholder {
        color: transparent;
    }
    input:focus:-moz-placeholder {
        color: transparent;
    }
    input:focus::-moz-placeholder {
        color: transparent;
    }
    input:focus:-ms-input-placeholder {
        color: transparent;
    }
    
    /*Just place them in a container and change direction*/
    #button_container{
    display:flex;
    }
    a,
    button {
        border: none;
        color: white;
        background-color: blue;
        padding: 12px 16px;
        text-align: center;
        text-decoration: none;
        font-size: 16px;
        margin: 4px 2px;
        display: inline-block;
        align-self: flex-start;
        cursor: pointer;
        text-transform: uppercase;
    }

<div class="form2">
  <div class="message" hidden></div>
 <form id="updateUserForm" action="https://someaction.com" method="POST">
    <label class="userInfo"></label>
    <input type="text" name="userFirstName" class="userFirstName" placeholder="First Name">
    <input type="text" name="userLastName" class="userLastName" placeholder="Last Name">
    <input type="text" name="subTag" class="subTag" placeholder="Title, benefits, companies, expertise">
    <input type="text" name="subLocation" class="subLocation" placeholder="City, state, zipe code or country">
    <!--Just place them in a container and change direction -->
    <div id="button_container"> 
    <a href="./manage.html" class="cancelLink">Cancel</a>
    <button type="submit " class="updateButton">Reactivate</button>
    <div>
  </form>
</div>

Answer 2

With the existing markup, using flex-direction: column, you can't make those two "buttons" align side-by-side.

One way is to change to row wrap and make all the input + label 100% width, which can be done with either width: 100% (used below) or flex-basis: 100%.

With that the items being 100% wide will stack vertical and the rest horizontal (unless their total width doesn't exceed 100%)

Stack snippet

form {
  display: flex;
  flex-wrap: wrap;
}

label {
  text-align: center;
  width: 100%;
}

input {
  border-style: solid;
  border-color: black;
  color: black;
  font-size: 16px;
  padding: 10px 14px;
  text-align: left;
  margin: 4px 2px;
  width: 100%;
}

a,
button {
  border: none;
  color: white;
  background-color: blue;
  padding: 12px 16px;
  text-align: center;
  text-decoration: none;
  font-size: 16px;
  margin: 4px 2px;
  cursor: pointer;
}

<div class="form2">
  <div class="message"></div>
  <form id="updateUserForm" action="https://api.ghjobssubscribe.com/manage/update" method="POST">
    <label class="userInfo"></label>
    <input type="text" name="userFirstName" class="userFirstName" placeholder="First Name">
    <input type="text" name="userLastName" class="userLastName" placeholder="Last Name">
    <input type="text" name="subTag" class="subTag" placeholder="Title, benefits, companies, expertise">
    <input type="text" name="subLocation" class="subLocation" placeholder="City, state, zipe code or country">
    <a href="./manage.html" class="cancelLink">Cancel</a>
    <button type="submit " class="updateButton">Submit</button>
  </form>
</div>

Answer 3

You can just use flex-wrap: wrap with row direction and set flex: 0 0 100% on inputs.

form {
  display: flex;
  flex-wrap: wrap;
}
input {
  flex: 0 0 100%;
}

<div class="form2">
  <div class="message"></div>
  <form id="updateUserForm">
    <label class="userInfo"></label>
    <input type="text" name="userFirstName" class="userFirstName" placeholder="First Name">
    <input type="text" name="userLastName" class="userLastName" placeholder="Last Name">
    <input type="text" name="subTag" class="subTag" placeholder="Title, benefits, companies, expertise">
    <input type="text" name="subLocation" class="subLocation" placeholder="City, state, zipe code or country">
    <a href="./manage.html" class="cancelLink">Cancel</a>
    <button type="submit " class="updateButton">Lorem</button>
  </form>
</div>