How to maintain a circlur shape of element with dynamic content? - css

Question

I'm trying to create a circle as an ::after pseudo element, which resizes automatically depending on its content.
.container {
display: flex;
flex-direction: row;
}
#dividerHost2 #left {
flex: 1 1 auto;
background-color: yellowgreen;
height: 200px;
}
#dividerHost2 #right {
flex: 1 1 auto;
background-color: dodgerblue;
}
#dividerHost2 .divider {
background-color: white;
margin: 0px;
width: 6px;
font-weight: 800;
}
.divider.vertical {
--divider-color: transparent;
display: inline-flex;
width: 1px;
border-left: 1px solid rgb(var(--divider-color));
margin: 0px 2px 0px 2px;
overflow: show;
}
.divider.vertical.title::after {
flex: 0 0 auto;
align-self: center;
border-radius: 50%;
content: "OR";
padding: 9px 8px 11px 8px;
background-color: white;
color: black;
transform: translateX(-44%);
z-index: 10;
}
<div id="dividerHost2" class="container">
<div id="left" class="container" style="flex-direction: row;"></div>
<div id="divider3" class="divider vertical title"></div>
<div id="right" class="container" style="flex-direction: row;"></div>
</div>
That gives a pretty nice result so far:
JSFiddle https://jsfiddle.net/jsnbtmh3/
However, with longer text the circle turns into an oval:
How to make the circle auto resize depending on its content?

Answer 1

Here is a trick using radial-gradient. The idea is to keep the element full height and color it using circle closest-side which will always create a circle that will start from the center and expand to the closest sides (left and right one)
I simplified the code to keep only the relevant part:
.container {
display: flex;
flex-direction: row;
margin:10px;
}
.left {
flex: 1 1 auto;
background-color: yellowgreen;
height: 200px;
}
.right {
flex: 1 1 auto;
background-color: dodgerblue;
}
.divider {
background-color: white;
width: 6px;
font-weight: 800;
display: flex;
justify-content: center;
}
.divider::after {
display: flex;
align-items: center;
flex: 0 0 auto;
content: attr(data-text);
padding: 0 8px;
background: radial-gradient(circle closest-side, white 98%, transparent 100%);
z-index: 10;
}
<div class="container">
<div class="left "></div>
<div class="divider" data-text="OR"></div>
<div class="right "></div>
</div>
<div class="container">
<div class="left "></div>
<div class="divider" data-text="longer"></div>
<div class="right "></div>
</div>
<div class="container">
<div class="left "></div>
<div class="divider" data-text="even longer"></div>
<div class="right "></div>
</div>

Answer 2

Don't put actual content in the pseudo-element especially as this is actually "content" rather than styling, rather use the pseudo-element to create a background circle using the padding/aspect ratio trick.
body {
text-align: center;
}
.divider {
margin: 3em;
display: inline-block;
position: relative;
padding: 1em;
font-weight: bold;
}
.divider:after {
content: "";
position: absolute;
width: 100%;
padding-top: 100%;
background: lightblue;
border-radius: 50%;
left: 50%;
top: 50%;
transform: translate(-50%, -50%);
z-index: -1;
}
<div class="divider">OR</div>
<div class="divider">LONG TEXT</div>