How to use bootstrap with 16 or 24 columns

Question

I need some help setting bootstrap 2.0.4 to be 16 or 24 column instead of the default 12 columns i can't understand what am i doing wrong i tried the customize option on the bootstrap site and i tried changing the grid variables in the variables.less file and recompile bootstrap.less using Crunch but for both trials i still have the same result .it is still 12 columns !!! when i try to set a div to be span12 it still takes the whole screen ?

Can anyone guide me to what's wrong i am doing or if someone can generate a 16 and 24 columns versions and send them to me that would be perfect

Answer 1

16 Column

960px

45px *16 =720 Column

15px *16 =240 Gutter

1200px

53px *16 =848 Column

22px *16 =352 Gutter

768px

33px *16 =528 Column

15px *16 =240 Gutter

Answer 2

This method is for an older version of Bootstrap - Version 2.3.1

Click this link to customize bootstrap: http://twitter.github.com/bootstrap/customize.html

You will find examples such as this. Change the parameters to fit your needs.

16 Grid system with Gutter
@gridColumns: 16
@gridColumnWidth: 45px
@gridGutterWidth: 15px
@gridColumnWidth1200: 52.5px
@gridGutterWidth1200: 22.5px
@gridColumnWidth768: 31.5px
@gridGutterWidth768: 15px

16 Grid system without Gutter
@gridColumns: 16
@gridColumnWidth: 60px
@gridGutterWidth: 0px
@gridColumnWidth1200: 75px
@gridGutterWidth1200: 0px
@gridColumnWidth768: 46.5px
@gridGutterWidth768: 0px

---

24 Grid system with Gutter
@gridColumns: 24
@gridColumnWidth: 30px
@gridGutterWidth: 1px
@gridColumnWidth1200: 35px
@gridGutterWidth1200: 15px
@gridColumnWidth768: 21px
@gridGutterWidth768: 10px

24 Grid system without Gutter
@gridColumns: 24
@gridColumnWidth: 40px
@gridGutterWidth: 0px
@gridColumnWidth1200: 50px
@gridGutterWidth1200: 0px
@gridColumnWidth768: 31px
@gridGutterWidth768: 0px

Answer 3

Here is a quick and easy way I found to do 16 columns using nesting...

.no-padding {
  padding-left: 0 !important;
  padding-right: 0 !important;
}

<div class="row">
  <div class="col-md-3 no-padding">
    <div class="col-md-3">
      col
    </div>
    <div class="col-md-3">
      col
    </div>
    <div class="col-md-3">
      col
    </div>
    <div class="col-md-3">
      col
    </div>
  </div>
  <div class="col-md-3 no-padding">
    <div class="col-md-3">
      col
    </div>
    <div class="col-md-3">
      col
    </div>
    <div class="col-md-3">
      col
    </div>
    <div class="col-md-3">
      col
    </div>
  </div>
  <div class="col-md-3 no-padding">
    <div class="col-md-3">
      col
    </div>
    <div class="col-md-3">
      col
    </div>
    <div class="col-md-3">
      col
    </div>
    <div class="col-md-3">
      col
    </div>
  </div>
  <div class="col-md-3 no-padding">
    <div class="col-md-3">
      col
    </div>
    <div class="col-md-3">
      col
    </div>
    <div class="col-md-3">
      col
    </div>
    <div class="col-md-3">
      col
    </div>
  </div>
</div>
<!-- row -->

Answer 4

Simple enough to alter in less - http://twitter.github.com/bootstrap/scaffolding.html#gridCustomization

You'll want to change the variables there to what you want -

e.g.

@gridColumns: 24
@gridColumnWidth: 30px
@gridGutterWidth: 10px

If using a fluid-grid, you'll want to change these variables proportionally too, otherwise span12 will still take up 100% of the width and span24 will take up 200%

@fluidGridColumnWidth
@fluidGridGutterWidth

As stated:

How to customize

Modifying the grid means changing the three @grid* variables and recompiling Bootstrap. Change the grid variables in variables.less and use one of the four ways documented to recompile. If you're adding more columns, be sure to add the CSS for those in grid.less.

You can change the variables and download the new css right here: http://twitter.github.com/bootstrap/download.html#variables

Here's a compiled example that should work for 16 columns (haven't tested, let me know how it works): https://s3.amazonaws.com/intenex/bootstrap16columns.zip

Answer 5

Edit: Creating grids with custom number of columns has been restored, and can be done on Bootstrap's customization page.

For reasons unknown to me, the latest version of Bootstrap (3.0.0/1) doesn't allow you to create grid different than 12 columns, which is a big shame.

What we can do currently, and which will in turn allow for creating more customized bootstrap packages, is to set up your own Bootstrap customizer.

Edit: I just tried it. Installing all the dependencies went quite smooth while sticking to guidelines on their Docs GitHub page.

Sample generated 24 column grid

Editor required inserting some code along with jsfiddle link. There's no point in pasting anything though.

Answer 6

You can override the width attribute with percentage like this:

    <div class="col-md-1" style="width: 6.25%">nothing</div>
    <div class="col-md-1" style="width: 6.25%">nothing</div>
    <div class="col-md-1" style="width: 6.25%">nothing</div>
    <div class="col-md-1" style="width: 6.25%">nothing</div>
    <div class="col-md-1" style="width: 6.25%">nothing</div>
    <div class="col-md-1" style="width: 6.25%">nothing</div>
    <div class="col-md-1" style="width: 6.25%">nothing</div>
    <div class="col-md-1" style="width: 6.25%">nothing</div>
    <div class="col-md-1" style="width: 6.25%">nothing</div>
    <div class="col-md-1" style="width: 6.25%">nothing</div>
    <div class="col-md-1" style="width: 6.25%">nothing</div>
    <div class="col-md-1" style="width: 6.25%">nothing</div>
    <div class="col-md-1" style="width: 6.25%">nothing</div>
    <div class="col-md-1" style="width: 6.25%">nothing</div>
    <div class="col-md-1" style="width: 6.25%">nothing</div>
    <div class="col-md-1" style="width: 6.25%">nothing</div>
    <div class="col-md-1" style="width: 6.25%">nothing</div>

It will even maintain the responsive capabilities.