Is it possible to create a GMail/GoogleGroups-like layout using Twitter Bootstrap, so that the layout always fits to the viewport (window height) and the sidebar and content are
You don't need to use Bootstrap to create this layout (nor do I think Bootstrap supports it, at least not without significant modification).
Of course, you can still use Bootstrap for everything else on the page. If you really want the Google Apps look, you'll need to tweak some of the default Bootstrap styles.
For fun, here's a quick knockoff of the Gmail interface using the basic techniques I describe below and a variety of Bootstrap components.
Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/Ly6wmyr2/1/
The code here is definitely demo quality and beyond the scope of a Stack Overflow question. I'll leave it up to the reader to dissect.
Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/vLm26g4g/1/
Notes
box-sizing: border-box
makes the dimension calculations easier.HTML {
height: 100%;
}
BODY {
position: relative;
height: 100%;
}
HEADER {
position: absolute;
top: 0;
left: 0;
right: 0;
height: 64px;
padding: 8px;
background-color: #ffffd;
}
#side {
position: absolute;
top: 80px;
left: 0;
bottom: 0;
width: 20%;
background-color: #eee;
overflow: auto;
}
#content {
position: absolute;
top: 80px;
left: 20%;
bottom: 0;
right: 0;
overflow: auto;
}
Check out the scaffolding section at
http://twitter.github.com/bootstrap/scaffolding.html#layouts
Specifically under the Fluid Layout/Fixed Layout sections
If you want to make the sections scrollable just add
overflow-y:auto;
to the css in your divs
that would be your code using a scrollspy to highlight the current "visibl" section in the body
<body data-spy="scroll" data-target=".bs-docs-sidebar">
<div class="container-fluid">
<div class="row-fluid">
<div class="span3 bs-docs-sidebar">
<ul class="nav nav-list bs-docs-sidenav affix">
<li class="active"><a href="#global"><i class="icon-chevron-right"></i> Global styles</a></li>
<li><a href="#gridSystem"><i class="icon-chevron-right"></i> Grid system</a></li>
<li><a href="#fluidGridSystem"><i class="icon-chevron-right"></i> Fluid grid system</a></li>
<li><a href="#layouts"><i class="icon-chevron-right"></i> Layouts</a></li>
<li><a href="#responsive"><i class="icon-chevron-right"></i> Responsive design</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="span9">
<section id="global"></section>
<section id="gridSystem</section>
<section id="fluidGridSystem"></section>
<section id="layouts"></section>
<section id="responsive"></section>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</body>
if you want to add a fixed navbar simply add "position:fixed" to the navbar css
I don't think there is an out-of-the-box Bootstrap solution but with a few overrides to the Bootstrap CSS and a position:absolute
container around the left side nav and *wide content are*a this should work. You'll see that both left/right spans have independent scroll bars...
<div class="navbar navbar-fixed-top">
<div class="navbar-inner">
<div class="container-fluid">
<!-- top nav --->
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="box">
<div class="row-fluid">
<div class="column span3">
<!-- left-side nav --->
</div>
<div class="column span9">
<!-- content area --->
</div>
</div>
</div>
Add some Bootstrap CSS overrides, and tweak the .box and .column containers..
html, body {
height: 100%;
}
.row-fluid {
height: 100%;
}
.column:before, .column:after {
content: "";
display: table;
}
.column:after {
clear: both;
}
.column {
height: 100%;
overflow: auto;
}
.box {
bottom: 0; /* increase for footer use */
left: 0;
position: absolute;
right: 0;
top: 40px;
}
.span9.full {
width: 100%;
}
Here is the working Bootply: http://bootply.com/60116 (also includes the content area rows and pagination)