I want a few divs to be positioned in a line next to each other, but also allow them to overlap the previous div.
What I'm trying to get is a timeline with divs for events of certain length. The events can overlap each other.
My idea was to give each div the same top position, an increasing z-index and an increasing left position (according to the time of the event). Later I would pop individual divs out by mouse-over events to visualise the overlap.
What I do is to make it so each div gets placed under the next one. With fiddling of the top attribute I can get them to align horizontally, but I don't see the pattern.
<div class="day">
<div style="top: 35px; left: 200px; background-color: red; height: 50px; width:24px; z-index: 1; position: relative;"> </div>
<div style="top: 35px; left: 220px; background-color: green; height: 50px; width:24px; z-index: 2; position: relative;"> </div>
<div style="top: 35px; left: 225px; background-color: blue; height: 50px; width:48px; z-index: 3; position: relative;"> </div>
</div>
If I use absolute positions, the elements fly out of the surrounding div and are positioned absolutely at some place in the page.
It's simple. Make an inner div using absolute positioning but wrapped with a div that uses relative positioning:
<div id="container" style="position: relative;width:200px;height:100px;top:100px;background:yellow">
<div id="innerdiv1" style="z-index: 1; position:absolute; width: 100px;height:20px;background:red;">a</div>
<div id="innerdiv2" style="z-index: 2; position:absolute; width: 100px;height:20px;background:blue;left:10px;top:10px;"></div>
</div>
You can use another method like negative margin, but it's not recommended if you want to dynamically change HTML. For example, if you want to move the position of the inner div(s), just set the top/left/right/bottom CSS properties of the container or modify the properties using JavaScript (jQuery or otherwise).
It will keep your code clean and readable.
Use Negative Margins!
<div class="day">
<div style="top: 35px;left: 200px; background-color: red; height: 50px; width:24px; z-index: 1; position: relative; margin-top: -15px;"> </div>
<div style="top: 35px;left: 220px; background-color: green; height: 50px; width:24px; z-index: 2; position: relative; margin-top: -15px;"> </div>
<div style="top: 35px;left: 225px; background-color: blue; height: 50px; width:48px; z-index: 3; position: relative; margin-top: -15px;"> </div>
</div>
Fiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/vZv5k/
Another Solution:
Give the .day class a width, height, and position it relatively, keeping the inner divs absolutely positioned.
Check out the below CSS:
.day {position: relative; width: 500px; height: 500px;}
And the HTML:
<div class="day">
<div style="top: 35px;left: 200px; background-color: red; height: 50px; width:24px; z-index: 1;"> </div>
<div style="top: 35px;left: 220px; background-color: green; height: 50px; width:24px; z-index: 2;"> </div>
<div style="top: 35px;left: 225px; background-color: blue; height: 50px; width:48px; z-index: 3;"> </div>
</div>
I found the solution. It's probably blindingly obvious to anyone who knows css.
I thought I could not use absolute positioning because my elements would fly out of the surrounding div.
Turns out, I misunderstood absolute positioning. It's not the same as fixed, but to me it looked like that.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/CSS/position explains it well.
Absolute positioning positions absolutely to the next surrounding anchor. That defaults to the whole page, if no other anchor is defined.
To make something a anchor it needs to be position: relative;
Quick solution
add position: relative; to the day class and using absolute positioning in the inner div.
With the top attribute, you can also move relatively positioned objects. In my code sample the red box overlaps the green box due to it's z-index. If you remove the z-index, then the green box is on top.
HTML:
<div class="wrapper">
<div class="box one"></div>
<div class="box two"></div>
</div>
CSS:
.wrapper {
width: 50px;
height: 50px;
overflow: hidden;
}
.box {
width: 100%;
height: 100%;
position: relative;
}
.box.one {
background-color: red;
z-index: 2;
top: 0px;
}
.box.two {
background-color: green;
z-index: 1;
top: -50px;
}
I want to place a div (with position:absolute;) element in the center of the window. But I'm having problems doing so, because the width is unknown.
I tried the following CSS code, but it needs to be adjusted because the width is responsive.
.center {
left: 50%;
bottom: 5px;
}
How can I achieve this?
This works for me:
#content {
position: absolute;
left: 0;
right: 0;
margin-left: auto;
margin-right: auto;
width: 100px; /* Need a specific value to work */
}
<body>
<div>
<div id="content">
I'm the content
</div>
</div>
</body>
<body>
<div style="position: absolute; left: 50%;">
<div style="position: relative; left: -50%; border: dotted red 1px;">
I am some centered shrink-to-fit content! <br />
tum te tum
</div>
</div>
</body>
Responsive Solution
Here is a good solution for responsive design or unknown dimensions in general if you don't need to support IE8 and lower.
.centered-axis-x {
position: absolute;
left: 50%;
transform: translate(-50%, 0);
}
.outer {
position: relative; /* or absolute */
/* unnecessary styling properties */
margin: 5%;
width: 80%;
height: 500px;
border: 1px solid red;
}
.inner {
position: absolute;
left: 50%;
top: 50%;
transform: translate(-50%, -50%);
/* unnecessary styling properties */
max-width: 50%;
text-align: center;
border: 1px solid blue;
}
<div class="outer">
<div class="inner">I'm always centered<br/>doesn't matter how much text, height or width i have.<br/>The dimensions or my parent are irrelevant as well</div>
</div>
Here is a JS Fiddle
The clue is, that left: 50% is relative to the parent while the translate transform is relative to the elements width/height.
This way you have a perfectly centered element, with a flexible width on both child and parent. Bonus: this works even if the child is bigger than the parent.
You can also center it vertically with this (and again, width and height of parent and child can be totally flexible (and/or unknown)):
.centered-axis-xy {
position: absolute;
left: 50%;
top: 50%;
transform: translate(-50%,-50%);
}
Keep in mind that you might need transform vendor prefixed as well. For example -webkit-transform: translate(-50%,-50%);
<div style='position:absolute; left:50%; top:50%; transform: translate(-50%, -50%)'>
This text is centered.
</div>
This will center all the objects inside div with position type static or relative.
I just wanted to add if someone wants to do it with a single div tag then here is the way out:
Taking width as 900px.
#styleName {
position: absolute;
left: 50%;
width: 900px;
margin-left: -450px;
}
In this case one should know the width beforehand.
Responsive solution
Assuming the element in the div, is another div...
This solution works fine:
<div class="container">
<div class="center"></div>
</div>
The container can be any size (must be position relative):
.container {
position: relative; /* Important */
width: 200px; /* Any width */
height: 200px; /* Any height */
background: red;
}
The element (div) can also be any size (must be smaller than the container):
.center {
position: absolute; /* Important */
top: 50%; /* Position Y halfway in */
left: 50%; /* Position X halfway in */
transform: translate(-50%,-50%); /* Move it halfway back(x,y) */
width: 100px; /* Any width */
height: 100px; /* Any height */
background: blue;
}
The result will look like this. Run the code snippet:
.container {
position: relative;
width: 200px;
height: 200px;
background: red;
}
.center {
position: absolute;
top: 50%;
left: 50%;
transform: translate(-50%, -50%);
width: 100px;
height: 100px;
background: blue;
}
<div class="container">
<div class="center"></div>
</div>
I found it very helpful.
Absolute Centre
HTML:
<div class="parent">
<div class="child">
<!-- content -->
</div>
</div>
CSS:
.parent {
position: relative;
}
.child {
position: absolute;
top: 0;
right: 0;
bottom: 0;
left: 0;
margin: auto;
}
Demo:
http://jsbin.com/rexuk/2/
It was tested in Google Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer 8.
This works for vertical and horizontal:
#myContent{
position: absolute;
left: 0;
right: 0;
top: 0;
bottom: 0;
margin: auto;
}
And if you want make an element center of the parent, set the position of the parent relative:
#parentElement{
position: relative
}
For vertical center align, set the height to your element. Thanks to Raul.
If you want make an element center of the parent, set the position of the parent to relative
If you need to center horizontally and vertically too:
left: 50%;
top: 50%;
transform: translate(-50%, -50%);
Searching for a solution, I got the previous answers and could make content centered with Matthias Weiler's answer, but using text-align:
#content{
position: absolute;
left: 0;
right: 0;
text-align: center;
}
It worked with Google Chrome and Firefox.
I understand this question already has a few answers, but I've never found a solution that would work in almost all classes that also makes sense and is elegant, so here's my take after tweaking a bunch:
.container {
position: relative;
}
.container .cat-link {
position: absolute;
left: 50%;
top: 50%;
transform: translate3d(-50%,-50%,0);
z-index: 100;
text-transform: uppercase; /* Forces CSS to treat this as text, not a texture, so no more blurry bugs */
background-color: white;
}
.color-block {
height: 250px;
width: 100%;
background-color: green;
}
<div class="container">
<a class="cat-link" href="">Category</a>
<div class="color-block"></div>
</div>
It is saying give me a top: 50% and a left: 50%, then transform (create space) on both the X/Y axis to the -50% value, in a sense "create a mirror space".
As such, this creates an equal space on all the four points of a div, which is always a box (has four sides).
This will:
Work without having to know the parent's height / width.
Work on responsive.
Work on either X or Y axis. Or both, as in my example.
I can't come up with a situation where it doesn't work.
Flexbox can be used to center an absolute positioned div.
display: flex;
align-items: center;
justify-content: center;
.relative {
width: 275px;
height: 200px;
background: royalblue;
color: white;
margin: auto;
position: relative;
}
.absolute-block {
position: absolute;
height: 36px;
background: orange;
padding: 0px 10px;
bottom: -5%;
border: 1px solid black;
}
.center-text {
display: flex;
justify-content: center;
align-items: center;
box-shadow: 1px 2px 10px 2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.3);
}
<div class="relative center-text">
Relative Block
<div class="absolute-block center-text">Absolute Block</div>
</div>
This is a mix of other answers, which worked for us:
.el {
position: absolute;
top: 50%;
margin: auto;
transform: translate(-50%, -50%);
}
This works on any random unknown width of the absolute positioned element you want to have in the centre of your container element:
Demo
<div class="container">
<div class="box">
<img src="https://picsum.photos/200/300/?random" alt="">
</div>
</div>
.container {
position: relative;
width: 100%;
}
.box {
position: absolute;
top: 0;
left: 0;
right: 0;
bottom: 0;
display: flex;
justify-content: center;
align-items: center;
}
It's possible to center an element that has aspect-ratio:1 with position absolute by using calc()
In the following example I'm using a circle because it's easier to explain and understand, but the same concept can be applied to any shape with aspect-ratio:1 meaning that the width and height are equal. (about aspect-ratio)
:root{
--diameter: 80px;
}
div{
position:absolute;
top: calc(50% - var(--diameter)/2);
right:calc(50% - var(--diameter)/2);
aspect-ratio:1;
width:var(--diameter);
border-radius:100%;
background:blue;
}
<div/>
Explanation
As far as I know, this is impossible to achieve for an unknown width.
You could - if that works in your scenario - absolutely position an invisible element with 100% width and height, and have the element centered in there using margin: auto and possibly vertical-align. Otherwise, you'll need JavaScript to do that.
I'd like to add on to bobince's answer:
<body>
<div style="position: absolute; left: 50%;">
<div style="position: relative; left: -50%; border: dotted red 1px;">
I am some centered shrink-to-fit content! <br />
tum te tum
</div>
</div>
</body>
Improved: /// This makes the horizontal scrollbar not appear with large elements in the centered div.
<body>
<div style="width:100%; position: absolute; overflow:hidden;">
<div style="position:fixed; left: 50%;">
<div style="position: relative; left: -50%; border: dotted red 1px;">
I am some centered shrink-to-fit content! <br />
tum te tum
</div>
</div>
</div>
</body>
Just wrap your content with a new div and use display flex and then use align-items: center; and justify-content: center; take a look...
<div class="firstPageContainer">
<div class="firstPageContainer__center"></div>
</div>
.firstPageContainer{
display: flex;
width: 1000px;
height: 1000px;
justify-content: center;
align-items: center;
background-color: #FF8527;
}
.firstPageContainer__center{
position:absolute;
width: 50px;
height: 50px;
background-color: #3A4147;
}
Sass/Compass version of a previous responsive solution:
#content {
position: absolute;
left: 50%;
top: 50%;
#include vendor(transform, translate(-50%, -50%));
}
This worked for me:
<div class="container><p>My text</p></div>
.container{
position: absolute;
left: 0;
right: 0;
margin-left: auto;
margin-right: auto;
}
My preferred centering method:
position: absolute;
margin: auto;
width: x%
absolute block element positioning
margin auto
same left/right, top/bottom
A JSFiddle is here.
Here's a useful jQuery plugin to do this. I found it here. I don't think it's possible purely with CSS.
/**
* #author: Suissa
* #name: Absolute Center
* #date: 2007-10-09
*/
jQuery.fn.center = function() {
return this.each(function(){
var el = $(this);
var h = el.height();
var w = el.width();
var w_box = $(window).width();
var h_box = $(window).height();
var w_total = (w_box - w)/2; //400
var h_total = (h_box - h)/2;
var css = {"position": 'absolute', "left": w_total + "px", "top":
h_total + "px"};
el.css(css)
});
};
#container
{
position: relative;
width: 100%;
float: left
}
#container .item
{
width: 50%;
position: absolute;
margin: auto;
left: 0;
right: 0;
}
HTML:
<div id='parent'>
<div id='child'></div>
</div>
CSS:
#parent {
display: table;
}
#child {
display: table-cell;
vertical-align: middle;
}
I know I already provided an answer, and my previous answer, along with others given, work just fine. But I have used this in the past and it works better on certain browsers and in certain situations. So I thought I'd give this answer as well. I did not "Edit" my previous answer and add it because I feel this is an entirely separate answer and the two I have provided are not related.
The accepted solution of this question didn't work for my case...
I'm doing a caption for some images and I solved it using this:
top: 0;
left: 0;
right: 0;
margin-left: auto;
margin-right: auto;
display: flex;
align-items: center;
figure {
position: relative;
width: 325px;
display: block
}
figcaption{
position: absolute;
background: #FFF;
width: 120px;
padding: 20px;
-webkit-box-shadow: 0 0 30px grey;
box-shadow: 0 0 30px grey;
border-radius: 3px;
display: block;
top: 0;
left: 0;
right: 0;
margin-left: auto;
margin-right: auto;
display: flex;
align-items: center;
}
<figure>
<img src="https://picsum.photos/325/600">
<figcaption>
But as much
</figcaption>
</figure>
HTML
<div id='parent'>
<div id='centered-child'></div>
</div>
CSS
#parent {
position: relative;
}
#centered-child {
position: absolute;
left: 0;
right: 0;
top: 0;
bottom: 0;
margin: auto auto;
}
http://jsfiddle.net/f51rptfy/
This solution works if the element has width and height
.wrapper {
width: 300px;
height: 200px;
background-color: tomato;
position: relative;
}
.content {
width: 100px;
height: 100px;
background-color: deepskyblue;
position: absolute;
top: 0;
right: 0;
bottom: 0;
left: 0;
margin: auto;
}
<div class="wrapper">
<div class="content"></div>
</div>
.center {
position: absolute
left: 50%;
bottom: 5px;
}
.center:before {
content: '';
display: inline-block;
margin-left: -50%;
}
This is a trick I figured out for getting a DIV to float exactly in the center of a page. It is really ugly of course, but it works in all browsers.
Dots and Dashes
<div style="border: 5 dashed red;position:fixed;top:0;bottom:0;left:0;right:0;padding:5">
<table style="position:fixed;" width="100%" height="100%">
<tr>
<td style="width:50%"></td>
<td style="text-align:center">
<div style="width:200;border: 5 dashed green;padding:10">
Perfectly Centered Content
</div>
</td>
<td style="width:50%"></td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
Cleaner
Wow, those five years just flew by, didn't they?
<div style="position:fixed;top:0px;bottom:0px;left:0px;right:0px;padding:5px">
<table style="position:fixed" width="100%" height="100%">
<tr>
<td style="width:50%"></td>
<td style="text-align:center">
<div style="padding:10px">
<img src="Happy.PM.png">
<h2>Stays in the Middle</h2>
</div>
</td>
<td style="width:50%"></td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
HTML:
<div class="wrapper">
<div class="inner">
content
</div>
</div>
CSS:
.wrapper {
position: relative;
width: 200px;
height: 200px;
background: #ddd;
}
.inner {
position: absolute;
top: 0; bottom: 0;
left: 0; right: 0;
margin: auto;
width: 100px;
height: 100px;
background: #ccc;
}
This and more examples here.