CSS Horizontal Align

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# CSS Horizontal Align

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## In CSS, several properties are used to align elements horizontally.

## Aligning Block Elements

A block element is an element that takes up the full width available, and has a line break before and after it.

Examples of block elements:

- <h1>
- <p>
- <div>

For aligning text, see the CSS Text chapter.

In this chapter we will show you how to horizontally align block elements for layout purposes.

## Center Aligning Using the margin Property

Block elements can be center-aligned by setting the left and right margins to "auto".

| Note: Using margin:auto; will not work in IE8 and earlier, unless a !DOCTYPE is declared.

Setting the left and right margins to auto specifies that they should split the available margin equally. The result is a centered element:

## Example

.center
{
margin-left:auto;
margin-right:auto;
width:70%;
background-color:#b0e0e6;
}
Try it yourself »

Tip: Center-aligning has no effect if the width is 100%.

## Left and Right Aligning Using the position Property

One method of aligning elements is to use absolute positioning:

## Example

.right
{
position:absolute;
right:0px;
width:300px;
background-color:#b0e0e6;
}
Try it yourself »

Note: Absolute positioned elements are removed from the normal flow, and can overlap elements.

## Crossbrowser Compatibility Issues

When aligning elements like this, it is always a good idea to predefine margin and padding for the <body> element. This is to avoid visual differences in different browsers.

There is a problem with IE8 and earlier, when using the position property. If a container element (in our case <div class="container">) has a specified width, and the !DOCTYPE declaration is missing, IE8 and earlier versions will add a 17px margin on the right side. This seems to be space reserved for a scrollbar. Always set the !DOCTYPE declaration when using the position property:

## Example

body
{
margin:0;
padding:0;
}
.container
{
position:relative;
width:100%;
}
.right
{
position:absolute;
right:0px;
width:300px;
background-color:#b0e0e6;
}
Try it yourself »

## Left and Right Aligning Using the float Property

One method of aligning elements is to use the float property:

## Example

.right
{
float:right;
width:300px;
background-color:#b0e0e6;
}
Try it yourself »

## Crossbrowser Compatibility Issues

When aligning elements like this, it is always a good idea to predefine margin and padding for the <body> element. This is to avoid visual differences in different browsers.

There is a problem with IE8 and earlier when using the float property. If the !DOCTYPE declaration is missing, IE8 and earlier versions will add a 17px margin on the right side. This seems to be space reserved for a scrollbar. Always set the !DOCTYPE declaration when using the float property:

## Example

body
{
margin:0;
padding:0;
}
.right
{
float:right;
width:300px;
background-color:#b0e0e6;
}
Try it yourself »
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