Utopia Container Queries

Container setup required for this project's fluid scales

Critical: cqi Units Require Container Context

This project's type and space scales use cqi (container query inline) units:

/* From typography.css */
--step-0: clamp(1.125rem, 1.0739rem + 0.2273cqi, 1.25rem);

/* From space.css */
--space-m: clamp(1.6875rem, 1.6108rem + 0.3409cqi, 1.875rem);

Without a container context, the cqi portion evaluates to 0, meaning values stay at their minimum.

Required Setup

For fluid scaling to work, you must establish a container context:

Option 1: Root Container (Recommended)

Apply to html or body for global container context:

html {
  container-type: inline-size;
}

Or in your component:

body {
  container-type: inline-size;
}

Option 2: Component-Level Containers

For component-specific containers:

.card-container {
  container-type: inline-size;
}

/* Optional: name the container */
.card-container {
  container: card / inline-size;
}

Current State

No container-type declarations exist in the CSS files. The fluid scales are defined but will not scale fluidly until container context is added.

Files That Need Container Context

File	Has cqi Units	Has container-type
typography.css	Yes	No
space.css	Yes	No
grid.css	No (uses vw fallback)	No

Adding Container Support

Minimal Setup

Add to css/styles/index.css:

html {
  container-type: inline-size;
}

Per-Component Setup

For isolated components:

.my-component {
  container-type: inline-size;
}

Container Query Syntax

Once containers are established, you can use container queries:

@container (inline-size > 400px) {
  .card {
    display: grid;
    grid-template-columns: 150px 1fr;
  }
}

/* Named container query */
@container card (inline-size > 600px) {
  .card__title {
    font-size: var(--step-3);
  }
}

Container Units Available

Unit	Description
cqi	1% of container inline size (width in LTR)
cqb	1% of container block size (height in LTR)
cqw	1% of container width
cqh	1% of container height
cqmin	Smaller of cqi/cqb
cqmax	Larger of cqi/cqb

What's NOT Defined

The following are not currently in the CSS:

• Any container-type declarations
• Any @container queries
• Named containers

The infrastructure (cqi-based tokens) exists, but the container context to make it functional does not.

Next Steps

1. Add container-type: inline-size to html or body
2. Verify fluid scaling works by resizing viewport
3. Add component-level containers as needed
4. Add @container queries for component-level responsiveness

Files

• css/styles/index.css - Recommended location for root container setup
• css/styles/layouts.css - Empty, available for container utilities