Is the property text-align: center; a good way to center an image using CSS?
img {
text-align: center;
}
That will not work as the text-align property applies to block containers, not inline elements, and img is an inline element. See the W3C specification.
Use this instead:
img.center {
display: block;
margin: 0 auto;
}
<div style="border: 1px solid black;">
<img class="center" src ="https://cdn.sstatic.net/Sites/stackoverflow/company/img/logos/so/so-icon.png?v=c78bd457575a">
</div>
That doesn't always work... if it doesn't, try:
img {
display: block;
margin: 0 auto;
}
I came across this post, and it worked for me:
img {
position: absolute;
top: 0;
bottom: 0;
left: 0;
right: 0;
margin: auto;
}
<div style="border: 1px solid black; position:relative; min-height: 200px">
<img src="https://cdn.sstatic.net/Sites/stackoverflow/company/img/logos/so/so-icon.png?v=c78bd457575a">
</div>
(Vertical and horizontal alignment)
Not recommendad:
Another way of doing it would be centering an enclosing paragraph:
<p style="text-align:center"><img src="https://via.placeholder.com/300"></p>
Update:
My answer above is correct if you want to start learning HTML/CSS, but it doesn't follow best practices
Actually, the only problem with your code is that the text-align attribute applies to text (yes, images count as text) inside of the tag. You would want to put a span tag around the image and set its style to text-align: center, as so:
span.centerImage {
text-align: center;
}
<span class="centerImage"><img src="http://placehold.it/60/60" /></span>
The image will be centered. In response to your question, it is the easiest and most foolproof way to center images, as long as you remember to apply the rule to the image's containing span (or div).
You can do:
<center><img src="..." /></center>
There are three methods for centering an element that I can suggest:
Using the text-align property
.parent {
text-align: center;
}
<div class="parent">
<img src="https://placehold.it/60/60" />
</div>
Using the margin property
img {
display: block;
margin: 0 auto;
}
<img src="https://placehold.it/60/60" />
Using the position property
img {
display: block;
position: relative;
left: -50%;
}
.parent {
position: absolute;
left: 50%;
}
<div class="parent">
<img src="https://placehold.it/60/60" />
</div>
The first and second methods only work if the parent is at least as wide as the image. When the image is wider than its parent, the image will not stay centered!!!
But:
The third method is a good way for that!
Here's an example:
img {
display: block;
position: relative;
left: -50%;
}
.parent {
position: absolute;
left: 50%;
}
<div class="parent">
<img src="http://imgsv.imaging.nikon.com/lineup/lens/zoom/normalzoom/af-s_dx_18-140mmf_35-56g_ed_vr/img/sample/img_01.jpg" />
</div>
On the container holding image you can use a CSS 3 Flexbox to perfectly center the image inside, both vertically and horizontally.
Let's assume you have <div class="container"> as the image holder:
Then as CSS you have to use:
.container {
display: flex;
align-items: center;
justify-content: center;
height: 100%;
}
And this will make all your content inside this div perfectly centered.
Only if you need to support ancient versions of Internet Explorer.
The modern approach is to do margin: 0 auto in your CSS.
Example here: http://jsfiddle.net/bKRMY/
HTML:
<p>Hello the following image is centered</p>
<p class="pic"><img src="https://twimg0-a.akamaihd.net/profile_images/440228301/StackoverflowLogo_reasonably_small.png"/></p>
<p>Did it work?</p>
CSS:
p.pic {
width: 48px;
margin: 0 auto;
}
The only issue here is that the width of the paragraph must be the same as the width of the image. If you don't put a width on the paragraph, it will not work, because it will assume 100% and your image will be aligned left, unless of course you use text-align:center.
Try out the fiddle and experiment with it if you like.
img{
display: block;
margin-right: auto;
margin-left: auto;
}
If you are using a class with an image then the following will do
class {
display: block;
margin: 0 auto;
}
If it is only an image in a specific class that you want to center align then following will do:
class img {
display: block;
margin: 0 auto;
}
The simplest solution I found was to add this to my img-element:
style="display:block;margin:auto;"
It seems I don't need to add "0" before the "auto" as suggested by others. Maybe that is the proper way, but it works well enough for my purposes without the "0" as well. At least on latest Firefox, Chrome, and Edge.
Simply change parent align :)
Try this one on parent properties:
text-align:center
You can use text-align: center on the parent and change the img to display: inline-block → it therefore behaves like a text-element and is will be centered if the parent has a width!
img {
display: inline-block
}
To center a non background image depends on whether you want to display the image as an inline (default behavior) or a block element.
Case of inline
If you want to keep the default behavior of the image's display CSS property, you will need to wrap your image inside another block element to which you must set text-align: center;
Case of block
If you want to consider the image as a block element of its own, then text-align property does not make a sens, and you should do this instead:
IMG.display {
display: block;
margin-left: auto;
margin-right: auto;
}
The answer to your question:
Is the property text-align: center; a good way to center an image
using CSS?
Yes and no.
Yes, if the image is the only element inside its wrapper.
No, in case you have other elements inside the image's wrapper because all the children elements which are siblings of the image will inherit the text-align property: and may be you would not like this side effect.
References
List of inline elements
Centering things
.img-container {
display: flex;
}
img {
margin: auto;
}
this will make the image center in both vertically and horizontally
I would use a div to center align an image. As in:
<div align="center"><img src="your_image_source"/></div>
If you want to set the image as the background, I've got a solution:
.image {
background-image: url(yourimage.jpg);
background-position: center;
}
One more way to scale - display it:
img {
width: 60%; /* Or required size of image. */
margin-left: 20% /* Or scale it to move image. */
margin-right: 20% /* It doesn't matters much if using left and width */
}
Use this to your img CSS:
img {
margin-right: auto;
margin-left: auto;
}
Use Grids To Stack images. It is very easy here is the code
.grid {
display:grid;
}
.grid img {
display:block;
margin:0 auto;
}
If your img element is inside a div, which is itself inside another div whose display has been set as flexbox, as in my case here:
(HTML)
<nav class="header">
<div class="image">
<img
src=troll
alt="trollface"
></img>
</div>
<div class="title">
Meme Generator
</div>
<div class="subtitle">
React Course - Project 3
</div>
</nav>
(CSS)
.header{
display: flex;
}
.image{
width: 5%;
height: 100%;
}
.image > img{
width: 100%;
}
You could set your .image div to align itself vertically by doing this:
.image{
width: 5%;
height: 100%;
align-self: center;
}
display: block with margin: 0 didn't work for me, neither wrapping with a text-align: center element.
This is my solution:
img.center {
position: absolute;
transform: translateX(-50%);
left: 50%;
}
translateX is supported by most browsers
I discovered that if I have an image and some text inside a div, then I can use text-align:center to align the text and the image in one swoop.
HTML:
<div class="picture-group">
<h2 class="picture-title">Picture #1</h2>
<img src="http://lorempixel.com/99/100/" alt="" class="picture-img" />
<p class="picture-caption">Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit. Temporibus sapiente fuga, quia?</p>
</div>
CSS:
.picture-group {
border: 1px solid black;
width: 25%;
float: left;
height: 300px;
#overflow:scroll;
padding: 5px;
text-align:center;
}
CodePen:
https://codepen.io/artforlife/pen/MoBzrL?editors=1100
Sometimes we directly add the content and images on the WordPress administrator inside the pages. When we insert the images inside the content and want to align that center. Code is displayed as:
**<p><img src="https://abcxyz.com/demo/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/1.jpg" alt=""></p>**
In that case you can add CSS content like this:
article p img{
margin: 0 auto;
display: block;
text-align: center;
float: none;
}
Use:
<dev class="col-sm-8" style="text-align: center;"><img src="{{URL('image/car-trouble-with-clipping-path.jpg')}}" ></dev>
I think this is the way to center an image in the Laravel framework.
To center an image with CSS.
img{
display: block;
margin-left: auto;
margin-right: auto;
}
You can learn more here
If you want to center image to the center both vertically and horizontaly, regardless of screen size, you can try out this code
img{
display: flex;
justify-content:center;
align-items: center;
height: 100vh;
}
Related
How can I horizontally center a <div> within another <div> using CSS?
<div id="outer">
<div id="inner">Foo foo</div>
</div>
With flexbox it is very easy to style the div horizontally and vertically centered.
#inner {
border: 0.05em solid black;
}
#outer {
border: 0.05em solid red;
width:100%;
display: flex;
justify-content: center;
}
<div id="outer">
<div id="inner">Foo foo</div>
</div>
To align the div vertically centered, use the property align-items: center.
Other Solutions
You can apply this CSS to the inner <div>:
#inner {
width: 50%;
margin: 0 auto;
}
Of course, you don't have to set the width to 50%. Any width less than the containing <div> will work. The margin: 0 auto is what does the actual centering.
If you are targeting Internet Explorer 8 (and later), it might be better to have this instead:
#inner {
display: table;
margin: 0 auto;
}
It will make the inner element center horizontally and it works without setting a specific width.
Working example here:
#inner {
display: table;
margin: 0 auto;
border: 1px solid black;
}
#outer {
border: 1px solid red;
width:100%
}
<div id="outer">
<div id="inner">Foo foo</div>
</div>
If you don't want to set a fixed width on the inner div you could do something like this:
#outer {
width: 100%;
text-align: center;
}
#inner {
display: inline-block;
}
<div id="outer">
<div id="inner">Foo foo</div>
</div>
That makes the inner div into an inline element that can be centered with text-align.
The best approaches are with CSS3.
The old box model (deprecated)
display: box and its properties box-pack, box-align, box-orient, box-direction etc. have been replaced by flexbox. While they may still work, they are not recommended to be used in production.
#outer {
width: 100%;
/* Firefox */
display: -moz-box;
-moz-box-pack: center;
-moz-box-align: center;
/* Safari and Chrome */
display: -webkit-box;
-webkit-box-pack: center;
-webkit-box-align: center;
/* W3C */
display: box;
box-pack: center;
box-align: center;
}
#inner {
width: 50%;
}
<div id="outer">
<div id="inner">Foo foo</div>
</div>
According to your usability you may also use the box-orient, box-flex, box-direction properties.
The modern box model with Flexbox
#outer {
display: flex;
flex-direction: row;
flex-wrap: wrap;
justify-content: center;
align-items: center;
}
Read more about centering the child elements
CSS Box Model Module Level 3
Box model (CSS2)
box-align on MDN
And this explains why the box model is the best approach:
Why is the W3C box model considered better?
#centered {
position: absolute;
left: 50%;
margin-left: -100px;
}
<div id="outer" style="width:200px">
<div id="centered">Foo foo</div>
</div>
Make sure the parent element is positioned, i.e., relative, fixed, absolute, or sticky.
If you don't know the width of your div, you can use transform:translateX(-50%); instead of the negative margin.
With CSS calc(), the code can get even simpler:
.centered {
width: 200px;
position: absolute;
left: calc(50% - 100px);
}
The principle is still the same; put the item in the middle and compensate for the width.
I've created this example to show how to vertically and horizontally align.
The code is basically this:
#outer {
position: relative;
}
and...
#inner {
margin: auto;
position: absolute;
left:0;
right: 0;
top: 0;
bottom: 0;
}
And it will stay in the center even when you resize your screen.
Some posters have mentioned the CSS 3 way to center using display:box.
This syntax is outdated and shouldn't be used anymore. [See also this post].
So just for completeness here is the latest way to center in CSS 3 using the Flexible Box Layout Module.
So if you have simple markup like:
<div class="box">
<div class="item1">A</div>
<div class="item2">B</div>
<div class="item3">C</div>
</div>
...and you want to center your items within the box, here's what you need on the parent element (.box):
.box {
display: flex;
flex-wrap: wrap; /* Optional. only if you want the items to wrap */
justify-content: center; /* For horizontal alignment */
align-items: center; /* For vertical alignment */
}
.box {
display: flex;
flex-wrap: wrap;
/* Optional. only if you want the items to wrap */
justify-content: center;
/* For horizontal alignment */
align-items: center;
/* For vertical alignment */
}
* {
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
}
html,
body {
height: 100%;
}
.box {
height: 200px;
display: flex;
flex-wrap: wrap;
justify-content: center;
align-items: center;
border: 2px solid tomato;
}
.box div {
margin: 0 10px;
width: 100px;
}
.item1 {
height: 50px;
background: pink;
}
.item2 {
background: brown;
height: 100px;
}
.item3 {
height: 150px;
background: orange;
}
<div class="box">
<div class="item1">A</div>
<div class="item2">B</div>
<div class="item3">C</div>
</div>
If you need to support older browsers which use older syntax for flexbox here's a good place to look.
If you don't want to set a fixed width and don't want the extra margin, add display: inline-block to your element.
You can use:
#element {
display: table;
margin: 0 auto;
}
Centering a div of unknown height and width
Horizontally and vertically. It works with reasonably modern browsers (Firefox, Safari/WebKit, Chrome, Internet & Explorer & 10, Opera, etc.)
.content {
position: absolute;
left: 50%;
top: 50%;
transform: translate(-50%, -50%);
}
<div class="content">This works with any content</div>
Tinker with it further on Codepen or on JSBin.
Set the width and set margin-left and margin-right to auto. That's for horizontal only, though. If you want both ways, you'd just do it both ways. Don't be afraid to experiment; it's not like you'll break anything.
It cannot be centered if you don't give it a width. Otherwise, it will take, by default, the whole horizontal space.
CSS 3's box-align property
#outer {
width: 100%;
height: 100%;
display: box;
box-orient: horizontal;
box-pack: center;
box-align: center;
}
The way I usually do it is using absolute position:
#inner{
left: 0;
right: 0;
margin-left: auto;
margin-right: auto;
position: absolute;
}
The outer div doesn't need any extra properties for this to work.
I recently had to center a "hidden" div (i.e., display:none;) that had a tabled form within it that needed to be centered on the page. I wrote the following jQuery code to display the hidden div and then update the CSS content to the automatic generated width of the table and change the margin to center it. (The display toggle is triggered by clicking on a link, but this code wasn't necessary to display.)
NOTE: I'm sharing this code, because Google brought me to this Stack Overflow solution and everything would have worked except that hidden elements don't have any width and can't be resized/centered until after they are displayed.
$(function(){
$('#inner').show().width($('#innerTable').width()).css('margin','0 auto');
});
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<div id="inner" style="display:none;">
<form action="">
<table id="innerTable">
<tr><td>Name:</td><td><input type="text"></td></tr>
<tr><td>Email:</td><td><input type="text"></td></tr>
<tr><td>Email:</td><td><input type="submit"></td></tr>
</table>
</form>
</div>
For Firefox and Chrome:
<div style="width:100%;">
<div style="width: 50%; margin: 0px auto;">Text</div>
</div>
For Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Chrome:
<div style="width:100%; text-align:center;">
<div style="width: 50%; margin: 0px auto; text-align:left;">Text</div>
</div>
The text-align: property is optional for modern browsers, but it is necessary in Internet Explorer Quirks Mode for legacy browsers support.
Use:
#outerDiv {
width: 500px;
}
#innerDiv {
width: 200px;
margin: 0 auto;
}
<div id="outerDiv">
<div id="innerDiv">Inner Content</div>
</div>
Another solution for this without having to set a width for one of the elements is using the CSS 3 transform attribute.
#outer {
position: relative;
}
#inner {
position: absolute;
left: 50%;
transform: translateX(-50%);
}
The trick is that translateX(-50%) sets the #inner element 50 percent to the left of its own width. You can use the same trick for vertical alignment.
Here's a Fiddle showing horizontal and vertical alignment.
More information is on Mozilla Developer Network.
Chris Coyier who wrote an excellent post on 'Centering in the Unknown' on his blog. It's a roundup of multiple solutions. I posted one that isn't posted in this question. It has more browser support than the Flexbox solution, and you're not using display: table; which could break other things.
/* This parent can be any width and height */
.outer {
text-align: center;
}
/* The ghost, nudged to maintain perfect centering */
.outer:before {
content: '.';
display: inline-block;
height: 100%;
vertical-align: middle;
width: 0;
overflow: hidden;
}
/* The element to be centered, can
also be of any width and height */
.inner {
display: inline-block;
vertical-align: middle;
width: 300px;
}
I recently found an approach:
#outer {
position: absolute;
left: 50%;
}
#inner {
position: relative;
left: -50%;
}
Both elements must be the same width to function correctly.
For example, see this link and the snippet below:
div#outer {
height: 120px;
background-color: red;
}
div#inner {
width: 50%;
height: 100%;
background-color: green;
margin: 0 auto;
text-align: center; /* For text alignment to center horizontally. */
line-height: 120px; /* For text alignment to center vertically. */
}
<div id="outer" style="width:100%;">
<div id="inner">Foo foo</div>
</div>
If you have a lot of children under a parent, so your CSS content must be like this example on fiddle.
The HTML content look likes this:
<div id="outer" style="width:100%;">
<div class="inner"> Foo Text </div>
<div class="inner"> Foo Text </div>
<div class="inner"> Foo Text </div>
<div class="inner"> </div>
<div class="inner"> </div>
<div class="inner"> </div>
<div class="inner"> </div>
<div class="inner"> </div>
<div class="inner"> Foo Text </div>
</div>
Then see this example on fiddle.
Centering only horizontally
In my experience, the best way to center a box horizontally is to apply the following properties:
The container:
should have text-align: center;
The content box:
should have display: inline-block;
Demo:
.container {
width: 100%;
height: 120px;
background: #CCC;
text-align: center;
}
.centered-content {
display: inline-block;
background: #FFF;
padding: 20px;
border: 1px solid #000;
}
<div class="container">
<div class="centered-content">
Center this!
</div>
</div>
See also this Fiddle!
Centering both horizontally & vertically
In my experience, the best way to center a box both vertically and horizontally is to use an additional container and apply the following properties:
The outer container:
should have display: table;
The inner container:
should have display: table-cell;
should have vertical-align: middle;
should have text-align: center;
The content box:
should have display: inline-block;
Demo:
.outer-container {
display: table;
width: 100%;
height: 120px;
background: #CCC;
}
.inner-container {
display: table-cell;
vertical-align: middle;
text-align: center;
}
.centered-content {
display: inline-block;
background: #FFF;
padding: 20px;
border: 1px solid #000;
}
<div class="outer-container">
<div class="inner-container">
<div class="centered-content">
Center this!
</div>
</div>
</div>
See also this Fiddle!
Flexbox
display: flex behaves like a block element and lays out its content according to the flexbox model. It works with justify-content: center.
Please note: Flexbox is compatible all browsers exept Internet Explorer. See display: flex not working on Internet Explorer for a complete and up to date list of browsers compatibility.
#inner {
display: inline-block;
}
#outer {
display: flex;
justify-content: center;
}
<div id="outer">
<div id="inner">Foo foo</div>
</div>
Text-align: center
Applying text-align: center the inline contents are centered within the line box. However since the inner div has by default width: 100% you have to set a specific width or use one of the following:
display: block
display: inline
display: inline-block
#inner {
display: inline-block;
}
#outer {
text-align: center;
}
<div id="outer">
<div id="inner">Foo foo</div>
</div>
Margin: 0 auto
Using margin: 0 auto is another option and it is more suitable for older browsers compatibility. It works together with display: table.
#inner {
display: table;
margin: 0 auto;
}
<div id="outer">
<div id="inner">Foo foo</div>
</div>
Transform
transform: translate lets you modify the coordinate space of the CSS visual formatting model. Using it, elements can be translated, rotated, scaled, and skewed. To center horizontally it require position: absolute and left: 50%.
#inner {
position: absolute;
left: 50%;
transform: translate(-50%, 0%);
}
<div id="outer">
<div id="inner">Foo foo</div>
</div>
<center> (Deprecated)
The tag <center> is the HTML alternative to text-align: center. It works on older browsers and most of the new ones but it is not considered a good practice since this feature is obsolete and has been removed from the Web standards.
#inner {
display: inline-block;
}
<div id="outer">
<center>
<div id="inner">Foo foo</div>
</center>
</div>
This method also works just fine:
div.container {
display: flex;
justify-content: center; /* For horizontal alignment */
align-items: center; /* For vertical alignment */
}
For the inner <div>, the only condition is that its height and width must not be larger than the ones of its container.
The easiest way:
#outer {
width: 100%;
text-align: center;
}
#inner {
margin: auto;
width: 200px;
}
<div id="outer">
<div id="inner">Blabla</div>
</div>
Flex have more than 97% browser support coverage and might be the best way to solve these kind of problems within few lines:
#outer {
display: flex;
justify-content: center;
}
If width of the content is unknown you can use the following method. Suppose we have these two elements:
.outer -- full width
.inner -- no width set (but a max-width could be specified)
Suppose the computed width of the elements are 1000 pixels and 300 pixels respectively. Proceed as follows:
Wrap .inner inside .center-helper
Make .center-helper an inline block; it becomes the same size as .inner making it 300 pixels wide.
Push .center-helper 50% right relative to its parent; this places its left at 500 pixels wrt. outer.
Push .inner 50% left relative to its parent; this places its left at -150 pixels wrt. center helper which means its left is at 500 - 150 = 350 pixels wrt. outer.
Set overflow on .outer to hidden to prevent horizontal scrollbar.
Demo:
body {
font: medium sans-serif;
}
.outer {
overflow: hidden;
background-color: papayawhip;
}
.center-helper {
display: inline-block;
position: relative;
left: 50%;
background-color: burlywood;
}
.inner {
display: inline-block;
position: relative;
left: -50%;
background-color: wheat;
}
<div class="outer">
<div class="center-helper">
<div class="inner">
<h1>A div with no defined width</h1>
<p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.<br>
Duis condimentum sem non turpis consectetur blandit.<br>
Donec dictum risus id orci ornare tempor.<br>
Proin pharetra augue a lorem elementum molestie.<br>
Nunc nec justo sit amet nisi tempor viverra sit amet a ipsum.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
You can do something like this
#container {
display: table;
width: <width of your container>;
height: <height of your container>;
}
#inner {
width: <width of your center div>;
display: table-cell;
margin: 0 auto;
text-align: center;
vertical-align: middle;
}
This will also align the #inner vertically. If you don't want to, remove the display and vertical-align properties;
Here is what you want in the shortest way.
JSFIDDLE
#outer {
margin - top: 100 px;
height: 500 px; /* you can set whatever you want */
border: 1 px solid# ccc;
}
#inner {
border: 1 px solid# f00;
position: relative;
top: 50 % ;
transform: translateY(-50 % );
}
You can use display: flex for your outer div and to horizontally center you have to add justify-content: center
#outer{
display: flex;
justify-content: center;
}
or you can visit w3schools - CSS flex Property for more ideas.
Well, I managed to find a solution that maybe will fit all situations, but uses JavaScript:
Here's the structure:
<div class="container">
<div class="content">Your content goes here!</div>
<div class="content">Your content goes here!</div>
<div class="content">Your content goes here!</div>
</div>
And here's the JavaScript snippet:
$(document).ready(function() {
$('.container .content').each( function() {
container = $(this).closest('.container');
content = $(this);
containerHeight = container.height();
contentHeight = content.height();
margin = (containerHeight - contentHeight) / 2;
content.css('margin-top', margin);
})
});
If you want to use it in a responsive approach, you can add the following:
$(window).resize(function() {
$('.container .content').each( function() {
container = $(this).closest('.container');
content = $(this);
containerHeight = container.height();
contentHeight = content.height();
margin = (containerHeight - contentHeight) / 2;
content.css('margin-top', margin);
})
});
One option existed that I found:
Everybody says to use:
margin: auto 0;
But there is another option. Set this property for the parent div. It
works perfectly anytime:
text-align: center;
And see, child go center.
And finally CSS for you:
#outer{
text-align: center;
display: block; /* Or inline-block - base on your need */
}
#inner
{
position: relative;
margin: 0 auto; /* It is good to be */
}
How can I horizontally center a <div> within another <div> using CSS?
<div id="outer">
<div id="inner">Foo foo</div>
</div>
With flexbox it is very easy to style the div horizontally and vertically centered.
#inner {
border: 0.05em solid black;
}
#outer {
border: 0.05em solid red;
width:100%;
display: flex;
justify-content: center;
}
<div id="outer">
<div id="inner">Foo foo</div>
</div>
To align the div vertically centered, use the property align-items: center.
Other Solutions
You can apply this CSS to the inner <div>:
#inner {
width: 50%;
margin: 0 auto;
}
Of course, you don't have to set the width to 50%. Any width less than the containing <div> will work. The margin: 0 auto is what does the actual centering.
If you are targeting Internet Explorer 8 (and later), it might be better to have this instead:
#inner {
display: table;
margin: 0 auto;
}
It will make the inner element center horizontally and it works without setting a specific width.
Working example here:
#inner {
display: table;
margin: 0 auto;
border: 1px solid black;
}
#outer {
border: 1px solid red;
width:100%
}
<div id="outer">
<div id="inner">Foo foo</div>
</div>
If you don't want to set a fixed width on the inner div you could do something like this:
#outer {
width: 100%;
text-align: center;
}
#inner {
display: inline-block;
}
<div id="outer">
<div id="inner">Foo foo</div>
</div>
That makes the inner div into an inline element that can be centered with text-align.
The best approaches are with CSS3.
The old box model (deprecated)
display: box and its properties box-pack, box-align, box-orient, box-direction etc. have been replaced by flexbox. While they may still work, they are not recommended to be used in production.
#outer {
width: 100%;
/* Firefox */
display: -moz-box;
-moz-box-pack: center;
-moz-box-align: center;
/* Safari and Chrome */
display: -webkit-box;
-webkit-box-pack: center;
-webkit-box-align: center;
/* W3C */
display: box;
box-pack: center;
box-align: center;
}
#inner {
width: 50%;
}
<div id="outer">
<div id="inner">Foo foo</div>
</div>
According to your usability you may also use the box-orient, box-flex, box-direction properties.
The modern box model with Flexbox
#outer {
display: flex;
flex-direction: row;
flex-wrap: wrap;
justify-content: center;
align-items: center;
}
Read more about centering the child elements
CSS Box Model Module Level 3
Box model (CSS2)
box-align on MDN
And this explains why the box model is the best approach:
Why is the W3C box model considered better?
#centered {
position: absolute;
left: 50%;
margin-left: -100px;
}
<div id="outer" style="width:200px">
<div id="centered">Foo foo</div>
</div>
Make sure the parent element is positioned, i.e., relative, fixed, absolute, or sticky.
If you don't know the width of your div, you can use transform:translateX(-50%); instead of the negative margin.
With CSS calc(), the code can get even simpler:
.centered {
width: 200px;
position: absolute;
left: calc(50% - 100px);
}
The principle is still the same; put the item in the middle and compensate for the width.
I've created this example to show how to vertically and horizontally align.
The code is basically this:
#outer {
position: relative;
}
and...
#inner {
margin: auto;
position: absolute;
left:0;
right: 0;
top: 0;
bottom: 0;
}
And it will stay in the center even when you resize your screen.
Some posters have mentioned the CSS 3 way to center using display:box.
This syntax is outdated and shouldn't be used anymore. [See also this post].
So just for completeness here is the latest way to center in CSS 3 using the Flexible Box Layout Module.
So if you have simple markup like:
<div class="box">
<div class="item1">A</div>
<div class="item2">B</div>
<div class="item3">C</div>
</div>
...and you want to center your items within the box, here's what you need on the parent element (.box):
.box {
display: flex;
flex-wrap: wrap; /* Optional. only if you want the items to wrap */
justify-content: center; /* For horizontal alignment */
align-items: center; /* For vertical alignment */
}
.box {
display: flex;
flex-wrap: wrap;
/* Optional. only if you want the items to wrap */
justify-content: center;
/* For horizontal alignment */
align-items: center;
/* For vertical alignment */
}
* {
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
}
html,
body {
height: 100%;
}
.box {
height: 200px;
display: flex;
flex-wrap: wrap;
justify-content: center;
align-items: center;
border: 2px solid tomato;
}
.box div {
margin: 0 10px;
width: 100px;
}
.item1 {
height: 50px;
background: pink;
}
.item2 {
background: brown;
height: 100px;
}
.item3 {
height: 150px;
background: orange;
}
<div class="box">
<div class="item1">A</div>
<div class="item2">B</div>
<div class="item3">C</div>
</div>
If you need to support older browsers which use older syntax for flexbox here's a good place to look.
If you don't want to set a fixed width and don't want the extra margin, add display: inline-block to your element.
You can use:
#element {
display: table;
margin: 0 auto;
}
Centering a div of unknown height and width
Horizontally and vertically. It works with reasonably modern browsers (Firefox, Safari/WebKit, Chrome, Internet & Explorer & 10, Opera, etc.)
.content {
position: absolute;
left: 50%;
top: 50%;
transform: translate(-50%, -50%);
}
<div class="content">This works with any content</div>
Tinker with it further on Codepen or on JSBin.
Set the width and set margin-left and margin-right to auto. That's for horizontal only, though. If you want both ways, you'd just do it both ways. Don't be afraid to experiment; it's not like you'll break anything.
It cannot be centered if you don't give it a width. Otherwise, it will take, by default, the whole horizontal space.
CSS 3's box-align property
#outer {
width: 100%;
height: 100%;
display: box;
box-orient: horizontal;
box-pack: center;
box-align: center;
}
The way I usually do it is using absolute position:
#inner{
left: 0;
right: 0;
margin-left: auto;
margin-right: auto;
position: absolute;
}
The outer div doesn't need any extra properties for this to work.
I recently had to center a "hidden" div (i.e., display:none;) that had a tabled form within it that needed to be centered on the page. I wrote the following jQuery code to display the hidden div and then update the CSS content to the automatic generated width of the table and change the margin to center it. (The display toggle is triggered by clicking on a link, but this code wasn't necessary to display.)
NOTE: I'm sharing this code, because Google brought me to this Stack Overflow solution and everything would have worked except that hidden elements don't have any width and can't be resized/centered until after they are displayed.
$(function(){
$('#inner').show().width($('#innerTable').width()).css('margin','0 auto');
});
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<div id="inner" style="display:none;">
<form action="">
<table id="innerTable">
<tr><td>Name:</td><td><input type="text"></td></tr>
<tr><td>Email:</td><td><input type="text"></td></tr>
<tr><td>Email:</td><td><input type="submit"></td></tr>
</table>
</form>
</div>
For Firefox and Chrome:
<div style="width:100%;">
<div style="width: 50%; margin: 0px auto;">Text</div>
</div>
For Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Chrome:
<div style="width:100%; text-align:center;">
<div style="width: 50%; margin: 0px auto; text-align:left;">Text</div>
</div>
The text-align: property is optional for modern browsers, but it is necessary in Internet Explorer Quirks Mode for legacy browsers support.
Use:
#outerDiv {
width: 500px;
}
#innerDiv {
width: 200px;
margin: 0 auto;
}
<div id="outerDiv">
<div id="innerDiv">Inner Content</div>
</div>
Another solution for this without having to set a width for one of the elements is using the CSS 3 transform attribute.
#outer {
position: relative;
}
#inner {
position: absolute;
left: 50%;
transform: translateX(-50%);
}
The trick is that translateX(-50%) sets the #inner element 50 percent to the left of its own width. You can use the same trick for vertical alignment.
Here's a Fiddle showing horizontal and vertical alignment.
More information is on Mozilla Developer Network.
Chris Coyier who wrote an excellent post on 'Centering in the Unknown' on his blog. It's a roundup of multiple solutions. I posted one that isn't posted in this question. It has more browser support than the Flexbox solution, and you're not using display: table; which could break other things.
/* This parent can be any width and height */
.outer {
text-align: center;
}
/* The ghost, nudged to maintain perfect centering */
.outer:before {
content: '.';
display: inline-block;
height: 100%;
vertical-align: middle;
width: 0;
overflow: hidden;
}
/* The element to be centered, can
also be of any width and height */
.inner {
display: inline-block;
vertical-align: middle;
width: 300px;
}
I recently found an approach:
#outer {
position: absolute;
left: 50%;
}
#inner {
position: relative;
left: -50%;
}
Both elements must be the same width to function correctly.
For example, see this link and the snippet below:
div#outer {
height: 120px;
background-color: red;
}
div#inner {
width: 50%;
height: 100%;
background-color: green;
margin: 0 auto;
text-align: center; /* For text alignment to center horizontally. */
line-height: 120px; /* For text alignment to center vertically. */
}
<div id="outer" style="width:100%;">
<div id="inner">Foo foo</div>
</div>
If you have a lot of children under a parent, so your CSS content must be like this example on fiddle.
The HTML content look likes this:
<div id="outer" style="width:100%;">
<div class="inner"> Foo Text </div>
<div class="inner"> Foo Text </div>
<div class="inner"> Foo Text </div>
<div class="inner"> </div>
<div class="inner"> </div>
<div class="inner"> </div>
<div class="inner"> </div>
<div class="inner"> </div>
<div class="inner"> Foo Text </div>
</div>
Then see this example on fiddle.
Centering only horizontally
In my experience, the best way to center a box horizontally is to apply the following properties:
The container:
should have text-align: center;
The content box:
should have display: inline-block;
Demo:
.container {
width: 100%;
height: 120px;
background: #CCC;
text-align: center;
}
.centered-content {
display: inline-block;
background: #FFF;
padding: 20px;
border: 1px solid #000;
}
<div class="container">
<div class="centered-content">
Center this!
</div>
</div>
See also this Fiddle!
Centering both horizontally & vertically
In my experience, the best way to center a box both vertically and horizontally is to use an additional container and apply the following properties:
The outer container:
should have display: table;
The inner container:
should have display: table-cell;
should have vertical-align: middle;
should have text-align: center;
The content box:
should have display: inline-block;
Demo:
.outer-container {
display: table;
width: 100%;
height: 120px;
background: #CCC;
}
.inner-container {
display: table-cell;
vertical-align: middle;
text-align: center;
}
.centered-content {
display: inline-block;
background: #FFF;
padding: 20px;
border: 1px solid #000;
}
<div class="outer-container">
<div class="inner-container">
<div class="centered-content">
Center this!
</div>
</div>
</div>
See also this Fiddle!
Flexbox
display: flex behaves like a block element and lays out its content according to the flexbox model. It works with justify-content: center.
Please note: Flexbox is compatible all browsers exept Internet Explorer. See display: flex not working on Internet Explorer for a complete and up to date list of browsers compatibility.
#inner {
display: inline-block;
}
#outer {
display: flex;
justify-content: center;
}
<div id="outer">
<div id="inner">Foo foo</div>
</div>
Text-align: center
Applying text-align: center the inline contents are centered within the line box. However since the inner div has by default width: 100% you have to set a specific width or use one of the following:
display: block
display: inline
display: inline-block
#inner {
display: inline-block;
}
#outer {
text-align: center;
}
<div id="outer">
<div id="inner">Foo foo</div>
</div>
Margin: 0 auto
Using margin: 0 auto is another option and it is more suitable for older browsers compatibility. It works together with display: table.
#inner {
display: table;
margin: 0 auto;
}
<div id="outer">
<div id="inner">Foo foo</div>
</div>
Transform
transform: translate lets you modify the coordinate space of the CSS visual formatting model. Using it, elements can be translated, rotated, scaled, and skewed. To center horizontally it require position: absolute and left: 50%.
#inner {
position: absolute;
left: 50%;
transform: translate(-50%, 0%);
}
<div id="outer">
<div id="inner">Foo foo</div>
</div>
<center> (Deprecated)
The tag <center> is the HTML alternative to text-align: center. It works on older browsers and most of the new ones but it is not considered a good practice since this feature is obsolete and has been removed from the Web standards.
#inner {
display: inline-block;
}
<div id="outer">
<center>
<div id="inner">Foo foo</div>
</center>
</div>
This method also works just fine:
div.container {
display: flex;
justify-content: center; /* For horizontal alignment */
align-items: center; /* For vertical alignment */
}
For the inner <div>, the only condition is that its height and width must not be larger than the ones of its container.
The easiest way:
#outer {
width: 100%;
text-align: center;
}
#inner {
margin: auto;
width: 200px;
}
<div id="outer">
<div id="inner">Blabla</div>
</div>
Flex have more than 97% browser support coverage and might be the best way to solve these kind of problems within few lines:
#outer {
display: flex;
justify-content: center;
}
If width of the content is unknown you can use the following method. Suppose we have these two elements:
.outer -- full width
.inner -- no width set (but a max-width could be specified)
Suppose the computed width of the elements are 1000 pixels and 300 pixels respectively. Proceed as follows:
Wrap .inner inside .center-helper
Make .center-helper an inline block; it becomes the same size as .inner making it 300 pixels wide.
Push .center-helper 50% right relative to its parent; this places its left at 500 pixels wrt. outer.
Push .inner 50% left relative to its parent; this places its left at -150 pixels wrt. center helper which means its left is at 500 - 150 = 350 pixels wrt. outer.
Set overflow on .outer to hidden to prevent horizontal scrollbar.
Demo:
body {
font: medium sans-serif;
}
.outer {
overflow: hidden;
background-color: papayawhip;
}
.center-helper {
display: inline-block;
position: relative;
left: 50%;
background-color: burlywood;
}
.inner {
display: inline-block;
position: relative;
left: -50%;
background-color: wheat;
}
<div class="outer">
<div class="center-helper">
<div class="inner">
<h1>A div with no defined width</h1>
<p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.<br>
Duis condimentum sem non turpis consectetur blandit.<br>
Donec dictum risus id orci ornare tempor.<br>
Proin pharetra augue a lorem elementum molestie.<br>
Nunc nec justo sit amet nisi tempor viverra sit amet a ipsum.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
You can do something like this
#container {
display: table;
width: <width of your container>;
height: <height of your container>;
}
#inner {
width: <width of your center div>;
display: table-cell;
margin: 0 auto;
text-align: center;
vertical-align: middle;
}
This will also align the #inner vertically. If you don't want to, remove the display and vertical-align properties;
Here is what you want in the shortest way.
JSFIDDLE
#outer {
margin - top: 100 px;
height: 500 px; /* you can set whatever you want */
border: 1 px solid# ccc;
}
#inner {
border: 1 px solid# f00;
position: relative;
top: 50 % ;
transform: translateY(-50 % );
}
You can use display: flex for your outer div and to horizontally center you have to add justify-content: center
#outer{
display: flex;
justify-content: center;
}
or you can visit w3schools - CSS flex Property for more ideas.
Well, I managed to find a solution that maybe will fit all situations, but uses JavaScript:
Here's the structure:
<div class="container">
<div class="content">Your content goes here!</div>
<div class="content">Your content goes here!</div>
<div class="content">Your content goes here!</div>
</div>
And here's the JavaScript snippet:
$(document).ready(function() {
$('.container .content').each( function() {
container = $(this).closest('.container');
content = $(this);
containerHeight = container.height();
contentHeight = content.height();
margin = (containerHeight - contentHeight) / 2;
content.css('margin-top', margin);
})
});
If you want to use it in a responsive approach, you can add the following:
$(window).resize(function() {
$('.container .content').each( function() {
container = $(this).closest('.container');
content = $(this);
containerHeight = container.height();
contentHeight = content.height();
margin = (containerHeight - contentHeight) / 2;
content.css('margin-top', margin);
})
});
One option existed that I found:
Everybody says to use:
margin: auto 0;
But there is another option. Set this property for the parent div. It
works perfectly anytime:
text-align: center;
And see, child go center.
And finally CSS for you:
#outer{
text-align: center;
display: block; /* Or inline-block - base on your need */
}
#inner
{
position: relative;
margin: 0 auto; /* It is good to be */
}
I am having problems centering two pictures on a page:
<div name="pics"style="text-align:center;padding:70px">
<a name="picofday"><img class="picofday" src="castle.jpg" alt=""/></a>
<a name="frame"><img class="frame" src="frame.png" width="50%" height="50%" alt=""/>
</a>
</div>
I have tried adding a text-align attribute and centering the pictures in CSS:
frame{display: block;
margin-left: auto;
margin-right: auto;
}
.picofday{
display: block;
margin-left:auto;
margin-right:auto;
}
Try
a {
display: block;
}
a img {
dsiplay: block;
margin: 0 auto;
width: auto;
}
There could be a few reasons why your elements didn't center. First try adding margin: 0px auto to your element.
For margin: 0 auto; to work, an element needs to have a set width like width: 100px;.
If the element has a set width and still does't center, try display: block;.
Those two things will always work.
How to center elements without margin: 0 auto;:
If you're just trying to center all elements inside the body tag, just use text-align: center; on the body tag to accomplish that.
That said, I don't think you were trying to do that though.
make your A tags display to block and set margin to 0px auto;
it will justify the elements
I'm having trouble because I have a div I want to center and what I have
usually been told to do is this:
width: 700px;
margin-left: auto;
margin-right: auto;
the trouble is, this is for if you want the div to be a fixed width. I want the div
to adjust its size based on the text in the div, and still be centered. I tried:
width: auto;
margin-left: auto;
margin-right: auto;
but this didn't work. It stretches the div to fill up the screen when I do this.
Anyone know what to do here?
for parent block or body - text-align:center;
for centerd block- display:inline-block;
.center {
display: inline-block;
background: red;
}
body {
text-align: center;
}
<div class="center">
<p contenteditable="true"> write text </p>
</div>
DEMO http://jsfiddle.net/RXP4F/
Content Editable MDN
have you tried the approach shown here?
http://www.tightcss.com/centering/center_variable_width.htm
basically.
put your content inside a floated div
put that floated div within another floated div
put left: 50%, position relative on outer div
put left: -50%, position relative on inner div
finally, nest everything in one more div with overflow:hidden
.outermost-div{
background-color: blue;
overflow:hidden;
}
.inner-div{
float:left;
left:50%;
background-color: yellow;
position: relative;
}
.centerthisdiv {
position:relative;
left: -50%;
background-color: green;
float:right;
width:auto;
}
here is my jsfiddle demonstration:
http://jsfiddle.net/wbhyX/1/
Use margin:
0px auto; and display: table;
There are example:
https://jsfiddle.net/da8p4zdr/
You might want to try CSS display:table-cell or display:table
Try this structure.
<div class="container">
<div class="center_div">
</div>
</div>
.container{
float: left;
left: 50%;
position: relative;
}
.center_div{
position: relative;
left: -50%;
float: left;
}
zloctb's answer on Aug 30 '13 at 4:14 actually worked in principle but was incomplete. If you want your element width to be 'auto' based on the contents within it AND centered within its parent BUT with the contents inside the CHILD element left-aligned, do the following (because it really is the simplest way):
.parent {
width: 100%;
text-align: center;
}
.parent div.child {
display: inline-block;
text-align: left;
width: auto;
}
(Obviously, if you just wanted everything strictly centered, you would not need the code for the child element.)
EDITED:
use table, it could be easier to style. Then add div into the tr
.outer-container {
position: relative;
left: 50%;
float: left;
clear: both;
margin: 10px 0;
text-align: left;
}
.inner-container {
background: red;
position: relative;
left: -50%;
text-align: left;
}
Centering an element horizontally can get a little weird, as the functionality isn't very intuitive. Really, you need to play games with text-align:center; and margin:auto, and you'll need to know when to use which.
For example, if I want to center the contents of an element (raw-text), including buttons and inputs, I can use text-align:center.
.text-center {
text-align:center;
}
<div class="text-center" style="border:1px dashed blue;padding:6px;" >
My contents are centered! That includes my <input placeholder="inputs" /> and my <button>buttons.</button>
</div>
If we add other elements to our container, those elements will have their width forced to 100%. This helps us emulate that it is centered because technically, at 100%, it is centered! Silly, isn't it?
.text-center {
text-align:center;
}
<div class="text-center" style="border:1px dashed blue;padding:6px;" >
My contents are centered! That includes my <input placeholder="inputs" /> and my <button>buttons.</button>
<p style="background-color:orange;width:auto" >Even though my width is explicitly defined as "auto," I still have 100% width! What gives?!</p>
</div>
If your width property IS defined though, then you can use the margin: auto style to center it within the parent.
<div style="margin:auto;border:1px solid black;width:300px;" >
I am centered!
</div>
You need to determine which solution is best for you. I wish I could help more, but it is hard to know what solution will best fit your needs when you haven't provided the HTML for you problem!
Either way, I hope this JSFiddle helps clear things up!
For some reason my divs won't center horizontally in a containing div:
.row {
width: 100%;
margin: 0 auto;
}
.block {
width: 100px;
float: left;
}
<div class="row">
<div class="block">Lorem</div>
<div class="block">Ipsum</div>
<div class="block">Dolor</div>
</div>
And sometimes there is a row div with just one block div in it. What am I doing wrong?
To achieve what you are trying to do:
Consider using display: inline-block instead of float.
Try this:
.row {
width: 100%;
text-align: center; // center the content of the container
}
.block {
width: 100px;
display: inline-block; // display inline with ability to provide width/height
}
DEMO
having margin: 0 auto; along with width: 100% is useless because you element will take the full space.
float: left will float the elements to the left, until there is no space left, thus they will go on a new line. Use display: inline-block to be able to display elements inline, but with the ability to provide size (as opposed to display: inline where width/height are ignored)
Alignments in CSS had been a nightmare. Luckily, a new standard is introduced by W3C in 2009: Flexible Box. There is a good tutorial about it here. Personally I find it much more logical and easier to understand than other methods.
.row {
width: 100%;
display: flex;
flex-direction: row;
justify-content: center;
}
.block {
width: 100px;
}
<div class="row">
<div class="block">Lorem</div>
<div class="block">Ipsum</div>
<div class="block">Dolor</div>
</div>
Using FlexBox:
<div class="row">
<div class="block">Lorem</div>
<div class="block">Ipsum</div>
<div class="block">Dolor</div>
</div>
.row {
width: 100%;
margin: 0 auto;
display: flex;
justify-content: center; /* for centering 3 blocks in the center */
/* justify-content: space-between; for space in between */
}
.block {
width: 100px;
}
The latest trend is to use Flex or CSS Grid instead of using Float. However, still some 1% browsers don't support Flex. But who really cares about old IE users anyway ;)
Fiddle: Check Here
Another working example, using display: inline-block and text-align: center
HTML:
<div class='container'>
<div class='row'>
<div class='btn'>Hello</div>
<div class='btn'>World</div>
</div>
<div class='clear'></div>
</div>
CSS:
.container {
...
}
.row {
text-align: center;
}
.btn {
display: inline-block;
margin-right: 6px;
background-color: #EEE;
}
.clear {
clear: both;
}
Fiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/fNvgS/
Although not covering this question (because you want to align the <div>s inside the container) but directly related: if you wanted to align just one div horizontally you could do this:
#MyDIV
{
display: table;
margin: 0 auto;
}
If elements are to be displayed in one line and IE 6/7 do not matter, consider using display: table and display: table-cell instead of float.
inline-block leads to horizontal gaps between elements and requires zeroing that gaps. The most simple way is to set font-size: 0 for parent element and then restore font-size for child elements that have display: inline-block by setting their font-size to a px or rem value.
I tried the accepted answer, but eventually found that:
margin: 0 auto;
width: anything less than 100%;
Works well so far.
I've use this two approaches when I need to handle horizontal div alignment.first (Center Aligning Using the margin Property):
.center-horizontal-align {
margin-left: auto;
margin-right: auto;
width: (less than 100%) or in px
}
Setting the left and right margins to auto specifies that they should split the available margin equally. Center-aligning has no effect if the width is 100%.
and the second:
.center-horizontal-align {
display: table
margin-left: auto;
margin-right: auto;
}
Using the second approach is convenient when you have several elements and you want all of them to be centred in one table cell(i.e. several buttons in one cell).
instead of float use flex
.row {
display: flex;
flex-direction: row;
}