Please note that this polyfill is now in maintenance mode, as of Nov, 2022. We are not planning to add more features or enhancements.
A small (9 kB compressed) polyfill for CSS Container Queries using ResizeObserver and MutationObserver supporting the full @container query syntax:
width: 300 and min-width: 300px)200px < width < 400px and width < 400px)cqw, cqh, cqi, cqb, cqmin, and cqmax) in properties and keyframesnpm install --save container-query-polyfillAlternatively, you can use it directly from a CDN:
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/container-query-polyfill@1/dist/container-query-polyfill.modern.js"></script>For the best user experience, it's recommended that you initially only use the polyfill for content below-the-fold and use @supports queries to temporarily replace it with a loading indicator until the polyfill is ready to display it:
@supports not (container-type: inline-size) {
.container,
footer {
display: none;
}
.loader {
display: flex;
}
}You can view a more complete demo here. On sufficiently fast networks and devices, or devices that natively support Container Queries, this loading indicator will never be displayed.
Note Keep in mind that this technique effectively limits impact on FID and CLS, potentially at the expense of LCP. You may see regressions in the latter as a result, particularly on lower end devices or in poor network conditions.
<style> and same-origin <link> elements. Inline styles via the style attribute or CSSOM methods are not polyfilled. Likewise, JavaScript APIs like CSSContainerRule are not polyfilled, and APIs like CSS.supports() are not monkey-patched.font-size in a container without content) may not be detected, or may be detected a frame late on some browsers. Complex sibling CSS selectors aren't supported.calc(...) in container conditions. Your contribution would be welcome!:where()The polyfill uses the CSS :where() pseudo-class to avoid changing the specificity of your rules. This pseudo-class is relatively new, however. If you need to support browsers without it, you will need to append the dummy :not(container-query-polyfill) pseudo-class to the originating element of every selector under a @container block:
| Before | After |
| ```css @container (min-width: 200px) { #foo { /* ... */ } .bar { /* ... */ } #foo, .bar { /* ... */ } ul > li { /* ... */ } ::before { /* ... */ } } ``` | ```css @container (min-width: 200px) { #foo:not(.container-query-polyfill) { /* ... */ } .bar:not(.container-query-polyfill) { /* ... */ } #foo:not(.container-query-polyfill), .bar:not(.container-query-polyfill) { /* ... */ } ul > li:not(.container-query-polyfill) { /* ... */ } :not(.container-query-polyfill)::before { /* ... */ } } ``` |
This is to ensure the specificity of your rules never changes (e.g. while the polyfill is loading, or on browsers with native support for container queries). On browsers without :where() supports, rules without the dummy will be ignored.
When using the polyfill, you may observe reports of errors like ResizeObserver loop completed with undelivered notifications or ResizeObserver loop limit exceeded. These are expected, and may safely be ignored.