Aligning a float:left div to center?

html

flexbox

responsive-design

animations

byAlex Kataev·Aug 5, 2024

<div style="text-align: center;">
  <div style="display: inline-block;">Centered Content</div>
</div>

Ditching the float: favor inline-block and flex

Float was a revolution back in the day for controlling the layout of the page. However, times have changed and so have our layout models in CSS. Let's look at the modern techniques for centering elements.

Tech Stack for centering

Why Flexbox and Grid?

Nothing simplifies centering like CSS Flexbox and Grid layouts. Applying display: flex; and justify-content: center; gives you an effortless centering solution attractive to designers and coders. Flex-wrap: wrap; helps with wrapping content seamlessly while preserving alignment.

Responsiveness with media queries

Incorporating media queries can help achieve a responsive design ensuring your centered div fits perfectly across different devices. Fiddling with width and height properties using media queries offers an optimal viewing experience.

Happy users with animations

CSS animations and transitions are a fun way of capturing user attention and making the user's experience dynamic. Splashing a bit of movement here and there using CSS transitions spruces up the page like glitter.

Making pages lighter and faster

A lightweight page loads faster and attracts more visitors. Optimize images by reducing file sizes to reduce the page load time. You get no awards for losing visitors to dull loading spinners!

Mastering the act of centering

The magic of clearfix

The clearfix hack is the key to unlocking CSS's unpredictable behavior when dealing with floats. It eliminates all the unwanted effects by ensuring the parent of the float secures its children, just like in real life!