CSS Margin Collapse
Last Updated :
02 Jul, 2021
The CSS margin property is used to set a margin on all four sides of an element.
When two elements are next to each other on a page vertically, one of the elements might lose its vertical margin. This means the top and bottom margins of elements are sometimes combined into a single margin. The single margin is equal to the largest of the two margins getting collapsed.
Example:
html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en" dir="ltr">
<head>
<style>
p{
margin: 20px 0 10px;
background-color:rgb(79, 236, 119);
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<p>This paragraph's bottom margin is collapsed.</p>
<p>This paragraph is 20px below the above text.</p>
</body>
</html>
|
You would expect the margin between the two paragraphs to be 30px (10px bottom margin of 1st paragraph + 20px top margin of next paragraph). But in CSS the bigger margin overrides and the actual margin is the bigger one (20px).
Output:
If one element has a negative margin, the negative margin is subtracted from the positive margin. For example, resultant margin of 40px and -30px will be 10px (40px-30px). If both the margins are negative, greater negative value is used. For example, resultant margin of -20px and -50px will be -50px.
The margins of floating and absolutely positioned elements never collapse.
Some specific cases of margins collapse:
- Between adjacent elements:
The margins of vertically adjacent elements collapse as we saw in the previous example.
- Between parent and child elements:
Adjacent margins of parent and child elements collapse when no padding, borders, or content exist between the adjacent margins.
Example:
html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en" dir="ltr">
<head>
<style>
h1{
margin: 0;
background-color: rgb(79, 236, 119);
}
div{
margin: 30px 0 20px ;
}
p{
margin: 20px 0 10px;
background-color: #f0f0f0;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Geeks For Geeks</h1>
<div>
<p>This paragraph's top
margin is collapsed.</p>
</div>
</body>
</html>
|
Output:
Here the margin between h1 and div is 30px and not 50px (30px + 20px).
Supported Browsers:
- Google Chrome
- Internet Explorer
- Firefox
- Opera
- Safari
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