Vertical Centering

Remarks#

This is used when the element’s dimensions (width and height) are not known or dynamic.

Prefer to use Flexbox over all other options as it is optimized for user interface design.

Centering with display: table

HTML:

<div class="wrapper">
    <div class="outer">
        <div class="inner">
            centered
        </div>
    </div>
</div>

CSS:

.wrapper {
  height: 600px;
  text-align: center;
}
.outer {
  display: table;
  height: 100%;
  width: 100%;
}
.outer .inner {
  display: table-cell;
  text-align: center;
  vertical-align: middle;
}

Centering with Transform

HTML:

<div class="wrapper">
    <div class="centered">
        centered
    </div>
</div>

CSS:

.wrapper {
  position: relative;
  height: 600px;
}
.centered {
  position: absolute;
  z-index: 999;
  transform: translate(-50%, -50%);
  top: 50%;
  left: 50%;
}

Centering with Flexbox

HTML:

<div class="container">
    <div class="child"></div>
</div>

CSS:

.container {
  height: 500px;
  width: 500px;
  display: flex;              // Use Flexbox
  align-items: center;        // This centers children vertically in the parent.
  justify-content: center;    // This centers children horizontally.
  background: white;
}

.child {
  width: 100px;              
  height: 100px;
  background: blue;
}

Centering Text with Line Height

HTML:

<div class="container">
    <span>vertically centered</span>
</div>

CSS:

.container{
    height: 50px;           /* set height */
    line-height: 50px;      /* set line-height equal to the height */
    vertical-align: middle; /* works without this rule, but it is good having it explicitly set */ 
}

Note: This method will only vertically center a single line of text. It will not center block elements correctly and if the text breaks onto a new line, you will have two very tall lines of text.

Centering with Position: absolute

HTML:

<div class="wrapper">
  <img src="https://cdn.sstatic.net/Sites/stackoverflow/company/img/logos/so/so-icon.png?v=c78bd457575a">
</div>

CSS:

.wrapper{
   position:relative;
   height: 600px;
}
.wrapper img {
  position: absolute;
  top: 0;
  left: 0;
  right: 0;
  bottom: 0;
  margin: auto;
}

If you want to center other then images, then you must give height and width to that element.

HTML:

<div class="wrapper">
  <div class="child">
     make me center
  </div>
</div>

CSS:

.wrapper{
   position:relative;
   height: 600px;
}
.wrapper .child {
  position: absolute;
  top: 0;
  left: 0;
  right: 0;
  bottom: 0;
  margin: auto;
  width: 200px;
  height: 30px;
  border: 1px solid #f00;
}

Centering with pseudo element

HTML:

<div class="wrapper">
  <div class="content"></div>
</div>

CSS:

.wrapper{
   min-height: 600px;
}

.wrapper:before{
  content: "";
  display: inline-block;
  height: 100%;
  vertical-align: middle;
}

.content {
  display: inline-block;
  height: 80px;
  vertical-align: middle;
}

This method is best used in cases where you have a varied-height .content centered inside .wrapper; and you want .wrapper’s height to expand when .content’s height exceed .wrapper’s min-height.