How to float 3 divs side by side using CSS? - css

Question

I know how to make 2 divs float side by side, simply float one to the left and the other to the right.
But how to do this with 3 divs or should I just use tables for this purpose?

Answer 1

Just give them a width and float: left;, here's an example:
<div style="width: 500px;">
<div style="float: left; width: 200px;">Left Stuff</div>
<div style="float: left; width: 100px;">Middle Stuff</div>
<div style="float: left; width: 200px;">Right Stuff</div>
<br style="clear: left;" />
</div>

Answer 2

The modern way is to use the CSS flexbox, see support tables.
.container {
display: flex;
}
.container > div {
flex: 1; /*grow*/
}
<div class="container">
<div>Left div</div>
<div>Middle div</div>
<div>Right div</div>
</div>
You can also use CSS grid, see support tables.
.container {
display: grid;
grid-template-columns: 1fr 1fr 1fr; /* fraction*/
}
<div class="container">
<div>Left div</div>
<div>Middle div</div>
<div>Right div</div>
</div>

Answer 3

It is same way as you do for the two divs, just float the third one to left or right too.
<style>
.left{float:left; width:33%;}
</style>
<div class="left">...</div>
<div class="left">...</div>
<div class="left">...</div>

Answer 4

float them all left
make sure a width is specified that they can all fit in their container (either another div or the window), otherwise they will wrap

Answer 5

<br style="clear: left;" />
that code that someone posted up there, it did the trick!!!
when i paste it just before closing the Container DIV, it helps clear all subsequent DIVs from overlapping with the DIVs i've created side-by-side at the top!
<div>
<div class="left"></div>
<div class="left"></div>
...
...
<div class="left"></div>
<!-- then magic trick comes here -->
<br style="clear: left;" />
</div>
tadaa!! :)

Answer 6

Float all three divs to the left. Like here:
.first-div {
width:370px;
height:150px;
float:left;
background-color:pink;
}
.second-div {
width:370px;
height:150px;
float:left;
background-color:blue;
}
.third-div {
width:370px;
height:150px;
float:left;
background-color:purple;
}

Answer 7

<style>
.left-column
{
float:left;
width:30%;
background-color:red;
}
.right-column
{
float:right;
width:30%;
background-color:green;
}
.center-column
{
margin:auto;
width:30%;
background-color:blue;
}
</style>
<div id="container">
<section class="left-column">THIS IS COLUMN 1 LEFT</section>
<section class="right-column">THIS IS COLUMN 3 RIGHT</section>
<section class="center-column">THIS IS COLUMN 2 CENTER</section>
</div>
the advantage of this way is you can set each column width independant of the other as long as you keep it under 100%, if you use 3 x 30% the remaining 10% is split as a 5% divider space between the collumns

Answer 8

I usually just float the first to the left, the second to the right. The third automatically aligns between them then.
<div style="float: left;">Column 1</div>
<div style="float: right;">Column 3</div>
<div>Column 2</div>

Answer 9

you can float: left for all of them and set the width to 33.333%

Answer 10

try to add "display: block" to the style
<style>
.left{
display: block;
float:left;
width:33%;
}
</style>
<div class="left">...</div>
<div class="left">...</div>
<div class="left">...</div>

Answer 11

I didn't see the bootstrap answer, so for what's it's worth:
<div class="col-xs-4">Left Div</div>
<div class="col-xs-4">Middle Div</div>
<div class="col-xs-4">Right Div</div>
<br style="clear: both;" />
let Bootstrap figure out the percentages.
I like to clear both, just in case.

Answer 12

I prefer this method, floats are poorly supported in older versions of IE (really?...)
.column-left{ position:absolute; left: 0px; width: 33.3%; background: red; }
.column-right{position:absolute; left:66.6%; width: 33.3%; background: green; }
.column-center{ position:absolute; left:33.3%; width: 33.3%; background: yellow; }
UPDATED :
Of course, to use this technique and due to the absolute positioning you need to enclose the divs on a container and do a postprocessing to define the height of if, something like this:
jQuery(document).ready(function(){
jQuery('.main').height( Math.max (
jQuery('.column-left').height(),
jQuery('.column‌​-right').height(),
jQuery('.column-center').height())
);
});
Not the most amazing thing in the world, but at least doesn't break on older IEs.

Answer 13

But does it work in Chrome?
Float each div and set clear;both for the row. No need to set widths if you dont want to. Works in Chrome 41,Firefox 37, IE 11
Click for JS Fiddle
HTML
<div class="stack">
<div class="row">
<div class="col">
One
</div>
<div class="col">
Two
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="col">
One
</div>
<div class="col">
Two
</div>
<div class="col">
Three
</div>
</div>
</div>
CSS
.stack .row {
clear:both;
}
.stack .row .col {
float:left;
border:1px solid;
}

Answer 14

Here's how I managed to do something similar to this inside a <footer> element:
<div class="content-wrapper">
<div style="float:left">
<p>© 2012 - #DateTime.Now.Year #Localization.ClientName</p>
</div>
<div style="float:right">
<p>#Localization.DevelopedBy Leniel Macaferi</p>
</div>
<div style="text-align:center;">
<p>☎ (24) 3347-3110 | (24) 8119-1085 ✉ #Html.ActionLink(Localization.Contact, MVC.Home.ActionNames.Contact, MVC.Home.Name)</p>
</div>
</div>
CSS:
.content-wrapper
{
margin: 0 auto;
max-width: 1216px;
}

Answer 15

#Leniel this method is good but you need to add width to all the floating div's. I would say make them equal width or assign fixed width. Something like
.content-wrapper > div { width:33.3%; }
you may assign class names to each div rather than adding inline style, which is not a good practice.
Be sure to use a clearfix div or clear div to avoid following content remains below these div's.
You can find details of how to use clearfix div here

Answer 16

display: table;If text needs to appearas if on the same line
In other words; if the vertical alignment of text in each <div> needs to be identical, one can attempt a modern retro throwback to yesteryear with the somewhat controversial table styling:
.container {display: table;}
div {display: table-cell;}
This proved to be quite useful to format CSL-styled citations in Pandoc, as shown below:
div.csl-bib-body {}
div.csl-entry {
margin-top: 1rem;
display: table;
}
div.csl-left-margin {
display: table-cell;
}
div.csl-right-inline {
padding-left: 1ex;
display: table-cell;
}
The citation number div and the citation data div are now shown at the exact same height.