How To Create Chat Bubbles Like Facebook Messenger

How would I create chat bubbles like this. More specifically how to group two ore more consecutive messages by one type of user into a bubble as a whole. For example FOR THE SENDE

Solution 1:

This is a rather basic example but it should explain all of the fundamentals you require.

Most of the solution lies within + adjacent sibling selector. In this case, it's used to apply a different border radius to multiple messages in a row from the same person.

ul{
  list-style: none;
  margin: 0;
  padding: 0;
}

ul li{
  display:inline-block;
  clear: both;
  padding: 20px;
  border-radius: 30px;
  margin-bottom: 2px;
  font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
}

.him{
  background: #eee;
  float: left;
}

.me{
  float: right;
  background: #0084ff;
  color: #fff;
}

.him + .me{
  border-bottom-right-radius: 5px;
}

.me + .me{
  border-top-right-radius: 5px;
  border-bottom-right-radius: 5px;
}

.me:last-of-type {
  border-bottom-right-radius: 30px;
}

<ul>
 <li class="him">By Other User</li>
 <li class="me">By this User, first message</li>
 <li class="me">By this User, secondmessage</li>
 <li class="me">By this User, third message</li>
 <li class="me">By this User, fourth message</li>
</ul>

Solution 2:

You will need a start and a end class, like this

li {
  border: 1px solid black;
  list-style-type: none;
  margin: 2px 0;
  padding: 2px 5px;
}
.him {
  float: left;
  border-radius: 0 10px 10px 0;
  clear: both;
}
.me {
  float: right;
  border-radius: 10px 0 0 10px;
  clear: both;
}
.him.start {
  border-top-left-radius: 10px;  
}
.him.end {
  border-bottom-left-radius: 10px;  
}
.me.start {
  border-top-right-radius: 10px;  
}
.me.end {
  border-bottom-right-radius: 10px;  
}

<ul>
 <li class="him start">By Other User</li>
 <li class="him">By Other User</li>
 <li class="him end">By Other User</li>
    
 <li class="me start">By this User, first message</li>
 <li class="me">By this User, secondmessage</li>
 <li class="me">By this User, third message</li>
 <li class="me end">By this User, fourth message</li>

 <li class="him start">By Other User</li>
 <li class="him">By Other User</li>
 <li class="him end">By Other User</li>
    
 <li class="me start">By this User, first message</li>
 <li class="me">By this User, secondmessage</li>
 <li class="me">By this User, third message</li>
 <li class="me end">By this User, fourth message</li>

</ul>

Solution 3:

Here is a pure css solution, but it hinges on your ability to detect and apply the chat__bubble--stop class when the final message of a group is sent. Unfortunately the pseudo class :last-of-type can't be used; as others have pointed out, the last message in a group isn't necessarily the last of the conversation. It also makes use of the adjacent sibling selector (+).

.chat {
  list-style-type: none;
  width: 20em;
}

.chat__bubble {
  margin-bottom: 3px;
  padding: 5px 10px;
  clear: both;
  border-radius: 10px 10px 2px 2px ;
}

.chat__bubble--rcvd {
  background: #f2f2f2;
  color: black;
  float: left;
  border-bottom-right-radius: 10px;
}

.chat__bubble--sent {
  background: #0066ff;
  color: white;
  float: right;
  border-bottom-left-radius: 10px;
}

.chat__bubble--sent + .chat__bubble--sent {
  border-top-right-radius: 2px;
}

.chat__bubble--rcvd + .chat__bubble--rcvd {
  border-top-left-radius: 2px;
}

.chat__bubble--stop {
  border-bottom-right-radius: 10px;
  border-bottom-left-radius: 10px;
}

<ul class="chat">
 <li class="chat__bubble chat__bubble--rcvd chat__bubble--stop">What are you up to?</li>
 <li class="chat__bubble chat__bubble--sent">Not much.</li>
 <li class="chat__bubble chat__bubble--sent">Just writing some CSS.</li>
 <li class="chat__bubble chat__bubble--sent">I just LOVE writing CSS.</li>
 <li class="chat__bubble chat__bubble--sent chat__bubble--stop">Do you?</li>
 <li class="chat__bubble chat__bubble--rcvd">Yeah!</li>
 <li class="chat__bubble chat__bubble--rcvd">It's super fun.</li>
 <li class="chat__bubble chat__bubble--rcvd chat__bubble--stop">... SUPER fun.</li>
</ul>

Solution 4:

I would suggest following this article for help when it comes to creating text bubbles: https://www.templatemonster.com/blog/chat-bubbles-css-ui-tutorial/

As for the beginning and ending bubbles, use JQuery to identify and change their CSS properties based on their parent container. if you want the sent images, you will need to wrap them inside of the li and do a float right, or absolute position inside of a relative object (the li).

<ul class="ulContainer">
  <li>test1</li>
  <li>test1</li>
  <li>test1</li>
</ul>

Css:

.ulContainer li{
  width:200px;
  height:20px;
  background-color:#9abff9;
  list-style-type:none;
  margin:10px 0 10px 0;
  padding: 3px 3px 3px 5px;
  border-radius: 10px 2px 2px 10px;
}

Use below script to change first and last li:

$('.ulContainer li:first').css('border-top-right-radius','10px');
$('.ulContainer li:last').css('border-bottom-right-radius','10px');

here's the JSFiddle: https://jsfiddle.net/s60dgfw2/

Update based upon your comment:

I believe this is the closest you can get to what you are trying to achieve without using JQuery. You need advanced selectors you can only get from grouping in .each() statements through JQuery. Or by adding multiple css classes to Lists.

Please see the response by LGSon's for how to do it with multiple CSS classes.

Or see below:

https://jsfiddle.net/5dcto0td/

.fancyContainer{
  border: 1px solid #555;
  position:relative;
  width:300px;
  padding:5px;
  overflow:hidden;
}
.chatBox {
  width: 300px;
  list-style: none;
  margin: 0 0 0 -40px;
  position:0;
}

.chatBox li {
  margin: 5px 0 5px 0;
  padding: 3px 5px 3px 5px;
}

/*Set up initial chat element for .me*/
.chatBox .me {
  min-height: 20px;
  float:right;
  clear: both;
  background-color: #34a1ef;
  border-radius: 10px 2px 2px 10px;
}

/*Set up initial chat element for .him*/
.chatBox .him {
  min-height: 20px;
  float:left;
  clear: both;
  background-color: #ddd;
  border-radius: 2px 10px 10px 2px;
}
/*Set up grouped radius*/
.him + .me {
  border-top-right-radius:10px;
}
.me + .him {
  border-top-left-radius:10px;
}
.me + .me {
  border-bottom-right-radius:2px;
}
.him + .him {
  border-bottom-left-radius:2px;
}


/*Set up First and Last radius for .me*/
.chatBox > .me:first-child {
  border-top-right-radius:10px;
}
.chatBox > .me:last-child{
  border-bottom-right-radius:10px;
}

/*Set up First and Last radius for .him*/
.chatBox > .him:first-child{
  border-top-left-radius:10px;
}
.chatBox > .him:last-child{
  border-bottom-left-radius:10px;
}

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<div class="fancyContainer">
  <ul class="chatBox">
    <li class="him">Hello... This is a chatbox.</li>      
    <li class="me">Well well. I guess this is a chatbox.</li>
    <li class="me">I'll have to talk about this some other time.</li>
    <li class="me">No wait. I might change my mind</li>
    <li class="him">Nonesense good sir! We'll have this talk right now and here.</li>
    <li class="him">I Like...</li>
    <li class="him">popsicles.</li>
    <li class="me">I can't believe you've done this to me!</li>
  </ul>
</div>