Easy way to center variable width divs in CSS - css

Question

I'm trying to center a Div that will have varying width's (based on content of a website).
I read about a relative positioning technique here:
http://www.tightcss.com/centering/center_variable_width.htm
But I thought there has to be an easier way to do it?

Answer 1

That's a pretty solid method that should work well in most browsers. It's not really that complex when you break it down. Here's a basic example:
<style type="text/css">
#hideoverflow { overflow: hidden; }
#outer { position: relative; left: 50%; float: left; }
#inner { position: relative; left: -50%; float: left; }
</style>
<div id="hideoverflow">
<div id="outer">
<div id="inner">
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed id velit vel augue fringilla rhoncus at et odio. Suspendisse potenti. Aliquam justo libero, commodo ut iaculis in, placerat vel purus.
</div>
</div>
</div>

Answer 2

#Talon; you can do it like this http://jsfiddle.net/sandeep/7PXQF/
CSS:
.container{
background-color:red;
text-align:center;
}
.center{
background-color:yellow;
display:inline-block;
text-align:left;}
HTML:
<div class="container">
<div class="center">
<p>This is a div with an much wider width, to make the yellow div go off the page to the right. We'll type a bit more to be sure.</p>
<p>Most people will see a horizontal scroll bar on the bottom, unless their screen is very wide.</p>
</div>
</div>

Answer 3

Well, it can't get any simpler than this and has full support on all browsers; doesn't even need a container:
.centered {
display:table;
margin:0 auto;
}
<div class="centered">
content
</div>
Here is a working fiddle: https://jsfiddle.net/1tnprnoz/

Answer 4

Now with flex-box you can easily achieve this with justify-content: center;.
#container{
background: gray;
display: flex;
justify-content: center;
}
<div id="container">
<div id="content" style="width: 200px; padding: 5px; background: #ffa637;">
This is a centered div This is a centered div This is a centered div This is a centered div
</div>
</div>
This can also be achieved by applying margin: auto to the containers child selector #container>*.
#container{
background: #c7c7c7;
}
#container>*{
margin: auto;
}
<div id="container">
<div id="content" style="width: 200px; padding: 5px; background: #ffa637;">
This is a centered div This is a centered div This is a centered div This is a centered div
</div>
</div>
Note: content div is styled inline as these styles are generated styles and are out of the scope of this question.