Overiding CSS grid-template-columns individually

Question

I am trying to create two buttons that each toggle a specific column when using CSS grid.

• I have a simply grid that toggles the width of first and last columns. (See snippet)

• I want to be able to toggle the column widths independantly (Without further javascript).

• Because the active class is applied to the container each column cannot infer the active state of the other.

• With flex the active class would be applied to the column (e.g item1) directly making this a non issue.

QUESTION

Is there a CSS grid column width property that can be applied to a column (e.g item1) overiding the settings in grid-template-columns?

OR

Is there a CSS grid property like grid-template-columns that can target individual columns rather than all columns in one property?

$("#js-btn-left").on("click", function () {
  $(".grid-container").toggleClass("active");
});
$("#js-btn-right").on("click", function () {
  $(".grid-container").toggleClass("active");
});

.grid-container {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: 50px auto 50px;
  grid-gap: 10px;
}

.grid-container > div {
  background-color: #b00;
  border:2px solid #000;
  text-align: center;
  padding: 20px 0;
  font-size: 30px;
}
.grid-container.active{
  grid-template-columns: 100px auto 100px;
}

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.3.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<input id="js-btn-left" type="button" value="TOGGLE COLUMN 1"/>
<input id="js-btn-right" type="button" value="TOGGLE COLUMN 3"/>
<div class="grid-container">
  <div class="item1">1</div>
  <div class="item2">2</div>
  <div class="item3">3</div> 
</div>

Answer 1

Define the columns using CSS variables and then simply adjust the variable:

$("#js-btn-left").on("click", function () {
  $(".grid-container").toggleClass("active1");
});
$("#js-btn-right").on("click", function () {
  $(".grid-container").toggleClass("active3");
});

.grid-container {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: var(--c1,50px) auto var(--c3,50px);
  grid-gap: 10px;
}

.grid-container > div {
  background-color: #b00;
  border:2px solid #000;
  text-align: center;
  padding: 20px 0;
  font-size: 30px;
}
.grid-container.active1{
  --c1:100px;
}
.grid-container.active3{
  --c3:100px;
}

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.3.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<input id="js-btn-left" type="button" value="TOGGLE COLUMN 1"/>
<input id="js-btn-right" type="button" value="TOGGLE COLUMN 3"/>
<div class="grid-container">
  <div class="item1">1</div>
  <div class="item2">2</div>
  <div class="item3">3</div> 
</div>

Another hacky way is to rely on the implicit grid and adjust grid-auto-column

$("#js-btn-right").on("click", function () {
  $(".grid-container").toggleClass("active");
});

.grid-container {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns:  auto ; /* only one column on the explicit grid */
  grid-auto-flow:column; /*Make the flow column*/
  grid-auto-columns:50px;
  grid-gap: 10px;
}

.item1 {
   /* Make the item1 at the left of the explicit grid 
       to undestand how it works: 
       https://stackoverflow.com/a/57750033/8620333 */
  grid-column: random -1; 
}
.grid-container.active{
  grid-auto-columns:100px;
}



.grid-container > div {
  background-color: #b00;
  border:2px solid #000;
  text-align: center;
  padding: 20px 0;
  font-size: 30px;
}

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.3.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<input id="js-btn-right" type="button" value="TOGGLE COLUMN"/>
<div class="grid-container">
  <div class="item1">1</div>
  <div class="item2">2</div>
  <div class="item3">3</div> 
</div>

If you want to target only one column:

$("#js-btn-right").on("click", function () {
  $(".grid-container").toggleClass("active");
});

.grid-container {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: 50px auto ;
  grid-auto-flow:column; 
  grid-auto-columns:50px;
  grid-gap: 10px;
}

.grid-container.active{
  grid-auto-columns:100px;
}



.grid-container > div {
  background-color: #b00;
  border:2px solid #000;
  text-align: center;
  padding: 20px 0;
  font-size: 30px;
}

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.3.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<input id="js-btn-right" type="button" value="TOGGLE COLUMN"/>
<div class="grid-container">
  <div class="item1">1</div>
  <div class="item2">2</div>
  <div class="item3">3</div> 
</div>

---

Or instead of changing the column width you can simply change the number of column each item should take:

$("#js-btn-left").on("click", function () {
  $(".grid-container").toggleClass("active1");
});
$("#js-btn-right").on("click", function () {
  $(".grid-container").toggleClass("active3");
});

.grid-container {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: 50px 40px auto 40px 50px; /* 40px because we have 10px of gap so the total will be 100px */
  grid-gap: 10px;
}

.grid-container > div {
  background-color: #b00;
  border:2px solid #000;
  text-align: center;
  padding: 20px 0;
  font-size: 30px;
}
.item2 {
  grid-column:span 3;
}
.grid-container.active3 .item3,
.grid-container.active3 .item2,
.grid-container.active1 .item1,
.grid-container.active1 .item2{
  grid-column:span 2;
}

.grid-container.active1.active3 .item2{
  grid-column:initial;
}

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.3.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<input id="js-btn-left" type="button" value="TOGGLE COLUMN 1"/>
<input id="js-btn-right" type="button" value="TOGGLE COLUMN 3"/>
<div class="grid-container">
  <div class="item1">1</div>
  <div class="item2">2</div>
  <div class="item3">3</div> 
</div>