Center an auto-width div? - css

Question

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?

Answer 1

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

Answer 2

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/

Answer 3

Use margin:
0px auto; and display: table;
There are example:
https://jsfiddle.net/da8p4zdr/

Answer 4

You might want to try CSS display:table-cell or display:table

Answer 5

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;
}

Answer 6

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.)

Answer 7

EDITED:
use table, it could be easier to style. Then add div into the tr

Answer 8

.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;
}

Answer 9

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!