How to vertical align this span element? - css

Question

This should be very simple, and apologies if it's a duplicate. I can't get some text in a span to vertically align beside an icon.
Example:
.box {
width: 100px;
text-align: center;
background-color: #f0f0f0;
margin: 50px auto;
padding: 20px;
font-family: sans-serif;
cursor: pointer;
}
<link href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/font-awesome/4.7.0/css/font-awesome.min.css" rel="stylesheet" />
<div class="box">
<a>
<span>Search</span>
<i class="fa fa-search fa-2x" aria-hidden="true"></i>
</a>
</div>
CSS I've tried:
Setting the span to display: inline-block and assigning padding and margin. This also moves the icon up.
Setting the link to position: relative and positioning the span. This causes the icon to move, as the span is now taken out of the flow.
Adjusting the line-height of the span. Again, this affects the icon.
Floating the span. This doesn't work.
Is there something I'm missing? I'm not very familiar with flex, would that be a solution? (Note I have to support very old browsers...)
Suggestions much appreciated!

Answer 1

Add following css:
.box a i,
.box a span {
display: inline-block;
vertical-align: middle;
}
.box {
width: 100px;
text-align: center;
background-color: #f0f0f0;
margin: 50px auto;
padding: 20px;
font-family: sans-serif;
cursor: pointer;
}
.box a i,
.box a span {
display: inline-block;
vertical-align: middle;
}
<link href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/font-awesome/4.7.0/css/font-awesome.min.css" rel="stylesheet" />
<div class="box">
<a>
<span>Search</span>
<i class="fa fa-search fa-2x" aria-hidden="true"></i>
</a>
</div>

Answer 2

Give the <i> an id (or class, I named it #k), then add this ruleset:
#k { vertical-align: middle; }
.box {
width: 100px;
text-align: center;
background-color: #f0f0f0;
margin: 50px auto;
padding: 20px;
font-family: sans-serif;
cursor: pointer;
}
#k {
vertical-align: middle;
}
<link href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/font-awesome/4.7.0/css/font-awesome.min.css" rel="stylesheet" />
<div class="box">
<a href='#/'>
<span>Search</span>
<i id='k' class="fa fa-search fa-2x" aria-hidden="true"></i>
</a>
</div>

Answer 3

Use CSS Flexbox. Apply display: flex property to .box a and use align-items: center (this will align your items vertically centered).
Have a look at the snippet below:
.box {
width: 30%;
text-align: center;
background-color: #f0f0f0;
margin: 50px auto;
padding: 20px;
font-family: sans-serif;
cursor: pointer;
}
.box a {
display: flex;
align-items: center;
justify-content: center;
}
.box a span {
padding-right: 10px;
}
<link href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/font-awesome/4.7.0/css/font-awesome.min.css" rel="stylesheet" />
<div class="box">
<a>
<span>Search</span>
<i class="fa fa-search fa-2x" aria-hidden="true"></i>
</a>
</div>
Hope this helps!

Answer 4

You can easily adjust the positioning of your text in the span if you first make it a block element, and then apply a float. Once this is done, you can apply line-height as you initially mentioned, but without affecting the icon.
Here is a JSFiddle to show what to do. Incredible easy, and you don't have to touch your original CSS: https://jsfiddle.net/pgkjaa8c/
Solution using Floats
.box span {
display: block;
float: left;
line-height: 40px;
}
And you can change the float from left to right if you want the text on the right. Additionally, you can apply left and right padding to push the text away from the icon if you so desire: https://jsfiddle.net/rz4y4696/
.box span {
padding-left: 15px;
display: block;
float: right;
line-height: 40px;
}
Additionally, I advise against using flex. People are constantly pushing flex as a solution, but it eliminates many legacy browsers from support. This would be one of the more traditional ways of implementing this, with fully cross browser, and legacy browser support.
Solution without using Floats
If you want a solution that does not require floats, and will work for varying widths, then you'd have to remove the <i> tag and add your FontAwesome icon to your CSS. You can see the solution here: https://jsfiddle.net/rwkypte8/2/
You can get the value of the FontAwesome search icon here: http://fontawesome.io/icon/search/
The HTML and CSS is below:
HTML
<link href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/font-awesome/4.7.0/css/font-awesome.min.css" rel="stylesheet" />
<div class="box">
<a>
<span>Search</span>
</a>
</div>
CSS
.box {
width: 50%;
text-align: center;
background-color: #f0f0f0;
margin: 50px auto;
padding: 20px;
font-family: sans-serif;
cursor: pointer;
}
.box span {
display: block;
line-height: 40px;
text-align: center;
}
.box span:after {
padding-left: 20px;
font-family: 'FontAwesome';
font-size: 30px;
content: '\f002';
}