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4 Different Ways to Center an Element using CSS

Last Updated : 06 Mar, 2024
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When designing web pages, achieving proper centering of elements is important. We’ll explore different techniques to center an element using CSS. Whether you’re creating a landing page, a form, or any other web component, understanding these methods will enhance your design skills. So let us take a look at 4 different ways to center an element using CSS.

We have created a parent div and a child div. We will take a look at how to center the child div inside the parent div. The below HTML code creates a webpage with a parent div containing a child div. The child div has text content and is styled to be centered horizontally and vertically within its parent using CSS.

HTML




<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
   <head>
      <title>4 Different Ways to Center an Element using CSS</title>
      <style>
         .parent {
         height: 400px;
         width: 400px;
         border:2px solid red;
         }
         .child {
         height: 100px;
         width: 100px;
         background-color: lightgreen;
         }
      </style>
   </head>
   <body>
      <div class="parent">
         <div class="child">
            Green Div is Centered
         </div>
      </div>
   </body>
</html>


Examples of Different Ways to Center an Element Using CSS

1. Using Flexbox Property:

Example: We can use Flexbox to center the element. We can set the display property of the parent div as flex and can easily center the children div using justify-context: center (horizontally) and align-items: center (vertically) properties.

HTML




<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
   <head>
      <title>4 Different Ways to Center an Element using CSS</title>
      <style>
         .parent {
         height: 400px;
         width: 400px;
         border:2px solid red;
         display: flex;
         justify-content: center;
         align-items: center;
         }
         .child {
         height: 100px;
         width: 100px;
         background-color: lightgreen;
         }
      </style>
   </head>
   <body>
      <div class="parent">
         <div class="child">
            Green Div is Centered
         </div>
      </div>
   </body>
</html>


Output:

Screenshot-2024-03-04-114027

Using Flexbox property

2. Using Margin auto Property:

Example: Another simple way to center a child div is to set it’s margin to auto and make the parent div display as grid.

HTML




<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
   <head>
      <title>4 Different Ways to Center an Element using CSS</title>
      <style>
         .parent {
         height: 400px;
         width: 400px;
         border:2px solid red;
         display: grid;
         }
         .child {
         height: 100px;
         width: 100px;
         background-color: lightgreen;
         margin: auto;
         }
      </style>
   </head>
   <body>
      <div class="parent">
         <div class="child">
            Green Div is Centered
         </div>
      </div>
   </body>
</html>


Output:

Screenshot-2024-03-04-114027

Using Margin auto Property

3. Using Grid Property:

Example: This is a quite easy way to center elements is to use the grid property on the parent div and set the place-items: center.

HTML




<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
   <head>
      <title>4 Different Ways to Center an Element using CSS</title>
      <style>
         .parent {
         height: 400px;
         width: 400px;
         border:2px solid red;
         display: grid;
         place-items: center;
         }
         .child {
         height: 100px;
         width: 100px;
         background-color: lightgreen;
         }
      </style>
   </head>
   <body>
      <div class="parent">
         <div class="child">
            Green Div is Centered
         </div>
      </div>
   </body>
</html>


Output:

Screenshot-2024-03-04-114027

Using Grid Property

4. Using Position absolute Property:

Example: We can also use the position property to center the elements.

HTML




<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
   <head>
      <title>4 Different Ways to Center an Element using CSS</title>
      <style>
         .parent {
         height: 400px;
         width: 400px;
         border:2px solid red;
         position: relative;
         }
         .child {
         height: 100px;
         width: 100px;
         background-color: lightgreen;
         position: absolute;
         top: 50%;
         left: 50%;
         transform: translate(-50%, -50%);
         }
      </style>
   </head>
   <body>
      <div class="parent">
         <div class="child">
            Green Div is Centered
         </div>
      </div>
   </body>
</html>


Output:

Screenshot-2024-03-04-114027

Using Position absolute Property



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