CSS Basic
CSS HOMECSS Introduction
CSS Syntax
CSS Id & Class
CSS How To
CSS Styling
Styling BackgroundsStyling Text
Styling Fonts
Styling Links
Styling Lists
Styling Tables
CSS Box Model
CSS Box ModelCSS Border
CSS Outline
CSS Margin
CSS Padding
CSS Advanced
CSS Grouping/NestingCSS Dimension
CSS Display
CSS Positioning
CSS Floating
CSS Align
CSS Pseudo-class
CSS Pseudo-element
CSS Navigation Bar
CSS Image Gallery
CSS Image Opacity
CSS Image Sprites
CSS Media Types
CSS Attribute Selectors
CSS Don't
CSS Summary
CSS Examples
CSS ExamplesCSS Quiz
CSS QuizCSS Certificate
CSS References
CSS ReferenceCSS Reference A to Z
CSS Reference Aural
CSS Web Safe Fonts
CSS Units
CSS Colors
CSS Colorvalues
CSS Colornames
CSS Horizontal Align
| « Previous | Next Chapter » |
In CSS, several properties are used to align elements horizontally.
Aligning Block Elements
A block element is an element that takes up the full width available, and has a line break before and after it.
Examples of block elements:
- <h1>
- <p>
- <div>
For aligning text, see the CSS Text chapter.
In this chapter we will show you how to horizontally align block elements for layout purposes.
Center Aligning Using the margin Property
Block elements can be aligned by setting the left and right margins to "auto".
Note: Using margin:auto will not work in Internet Explorer, unless a !DOCTYPE is declared.
Setting the left and right margins to auto specifies that they should split the available margin equally. The result is a centered element:
Example
Try it yourself » |
Tip: Aligning has no effect if the width is 100%.
Note: In IE 5 there is a margin handling bug for block elements. To make the example above work in IE5, add some extra code. Try it yourself
Left and Right Aligning Using the position Property
One method of aligning elements is to use absolute positioning:
Example
Try it yourself » |
Note: Absolute positioned elements are removed from the normal flow, and can overlap elements.
Crossbrowser Compatibility Issues
When aligning elements like this, it is always a good idea to predefine margin and padding for the <body> element. This is to avoid visual differences in different browsers.
There is also another problem with IE when using the position property. If a container element (in our case <div class="container">) has a specified width, and the !DOCTYPE declaration is missing, IE will add a 17px margin on the right side. This seems to be space reserved for a scrollbar. Always set the !DOCTYPE declaration when using the position property:
Example
Try it yourself » |
Left and Right Aligning Using the float Property
One method of aligning elements is to use the float property:
Example
Try it yourself » |
Crossbrowser Compatibility Issues
When aligning elements like this, it is always a good idea to predefine margin and padding for the <body> element. This is to avoid visual differences in different browsers.
There is also another problem with IE when using the float property. If the !DOCTYPE declaration is missing, IE will add a 17px margin on the right side. This seems to be space reserved for a scrollbar. Always set the !DOCTYPE declaration when using the float property:
Example
Try it yourself » |
| « Previous | Next Chapter » |