flex item overflows container due to long word even after using word-wrap

Question

The main issue with the above code is ,child3 overflows but if I give a max-width in child2it will not overflow the parent. In both cases I used word-wrap: break-word;

You can check the code here http://jsfiddle.net/vbj10x4k/

I need to know why it happens and how to solve it without using max-width/width to fixed pixel values.I need it to be responsive.

Answer 1

Instead of setting a max-width for your flex item, use a min-width declaration.

By default, if no min-width is set, the item's content min-width is assumed and the flex item's width will never be smaller. By setting a min-width of e.g. 40%, the item will shrink to at most 40% of the flex parent.

.child2, .child3 {
  min-width: 40%;
}

.parent{
  width:100%;
  display:flex;
  flex-direction:row;
  flex-wrap:nowrap;
  padding:1em;
  background-color:red;
  box-sizing:border-box;
}
.child1{
  background-color:mistyrose;
  padding:1em;
}
.child2{
  background-color:powderblue;
  padding:.5em;
  word-wrap: break-word;
  overflow-wrap: break-word;
  min-width: 40%;
}
.child3{
  background-color:lightyellow;
  padding:.5em;
  word-wrap: break-word;
  overflow-wrap: break-word;
  min-width: 40%;
}

<div class="parent">
  <div class="child1">
    question
  </div>
  <div class="child2">
   somethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomething

  </div>
  <div class="child3">
    Works well with long URLs: <a href="#"> https://thisisadamnlongurlcontainingneitherhyphensoradditionalperiods.com</a>
  </div>
</div>

See the code snippet above or the external demo: http://jsfiddle.net/vbj10x4k/5/