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The CSS Working Group’s current direction for masonry-style layouts is CSS Grid Lanes, expressed in the Grid Level 3 Editor’s Draft as display: grid-lanes. That is standards work in progress, not evidence of broad stable-browser support. The change answers the debate covered in Bytes #340 in November 2024: should masonry be a separate CSS layout mode, or should it extend Grid?
What was the “grid or not grid” debate about?
Masonry layout packs items into vertical or horizontal lanes like a brick wall, rather than lining them up in a strict two-dimensional grid. The November 2024 issue described developers as having historically relied on JavaScript for this pattern, while browser teams debated how CSS should express it. The dispute was about the CSS model for masonry—not whether ordinary CSS Grid exists. WebKit’s account of the proposals gives context for the debate.
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The issue contrasted two approaches. One would introduce a separate display value; the other would add masonry behavior to Grid. Each offered a different balance of conceptual clarity, complexity, and fallback potential.
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A new value such as display: masonry could give masonry its own defaults and make its configuration easier to understand. The tradeoff identified in the 2024 debate was duplication: separate Grid and masonry specifications could repeat concepts and make responsive layouts harder to reason about.
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Masonry as an extension to Grid
The alternative discussed in the issue extended Grid, including a proposed collapsed value for grid-template-rows and grid-template-columns. Its appeal was progressive enhancement: existing Grid behavior could remain useful as implementations evolved. The concern was that adding special meanings to familiar property values could make Grid more difficult to learn and configure.
Those were the tradeoffs as presented in November 2024, not the final syntax. WebKit’s later explanation of Grid Lanes describes the subsequent direction.
What is CSS Grid Lanes?
The CSS Grid Layout Module Level 3 Editor’s Draft describes “grid lanes layout,” also known as masonry or waterfall layout, and defines grid-lanes as an inner display type. WebKit presents the syntax as display: grid-lanes. The draft also records that the separate item-* unified-flow proposal was dropped. Read the CSS Grid Level 3 Editor’s Draft.
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In January 2026, WebKit updated its explanation to say the CSS Working Group chose the Grid Lanes direction after considering the earlier proposals. The outcome preserves the connection to Grid while giving the masonry layout its own named display type. The specification remains an Editor’s Draft, so its name and syntax should be understood as a work in progress rather than a finished standard. WebKit’s article and update describe the decision.
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Can you use display: grid-lanes yet?
WebKit reported that the feature could be tried in Safari Technology Preview 234 when its article was published on December 19, 2025. That is a dated preview report, not confirmation of support in current stable Safari or across browsers. The cited material does not establish broad stable-browser availability. WebKit’s announcement provides the preview context; the Editor’s Draft describes the evolving specification.
For a production layout, check the current support status in the browsers and versions your audience uses before depending on Grid Lanes. Treat the draft syntax as experimental unless your target environment explicitly supports it, and plan a fallback that keeps the content usable when masonry layout is unavailable.
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What the choice means for CSS authors
- The original question was about the model. The 2024 discussion weighed a distinct masonry mode against adding behavior to Grid; it was not a proposal to replace ordinary Grid.
- The direction has a name and draft syntax. The current draft calls the layout Grid Lanes and defines
display: grid-lanes. - The draft is not the finish line. Editor’s Draft status and a dated technology-preview report do not establish settled syntax or cross-browser stable support.
- Keep fallback behavior in view. The earlier debate explicitly raised progressive enhancement as an advantage of the Grid-integrated approach; real-world use still depends on support in the target browsers.
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