The <div> element is used as a container for other HTML elements.
The <div> Element
The <div> element is by default a block element, meaning that it takes all available width, and comes with line breaks before and after.
Example
A <div> element takes up all available width:
Lorem Ipsum <div>I am a div</div> dolor sit amet.
Result
dolor sit amet.
The <div> element has no required attributes, but style, class and id are common.
<div> as a container
The <div> element is often used to group sections of a web page together.
Example
A <div> element with HTML elements:
<div>
<h2>London</h2>
<p>London is the capital city of England.</p>
<p>London has over 13 million inhabitants.</p>
</div>
Result
London
London is the capital city of England.
London has over 13 million inhabitants.
Center align a <div> element
If you have a <div> element that is not 100% wide, and you want to center-align it, set the CSS margin property to auto.
Example
<style>
div {
width:300px;
margin:auto;
}
</style>
Result
London
London is the capital city of England.
London has over 13 million inhabitants.
Multiple <div> elements
You can have many <div> containers on the same page.
Example
<div>
<h2>London</h2>
<p>London is the capital city of England.</p>
<p>London has over 13 million inhabitants.</p>
</div>
<div>
<h2>Oslo</h2>
<p>Oslo is the capital city of Norway.</p>
<p>Oslo has over 600.000 inhabitants.</p>
</div>
<div>
<h2>Rome</h2>
<p>Rome is the capital city of Italy.</p>
<p>Rome has almost 3 million inhabitants.</p>
</div>
Result
London
London is the capital city of England.
London has over 13 million inhabitants.
Oslo
Oslo is the capital city of Norway.
Oslo has over 600.000 inhabitants.
Rome
Rome is the capital city of Italy.
Rome has almost 3 million inhabitants.
Aligning <div> elements side by side
When building web pages, you often want to have two or more <div> elements side by side, like this:
London
London is the capital city of England.
London has over 13 million inhabitants.
Oslo
Oslo is the capital city of Norway.
Oslo has over 600.000 inhabitants.
Rome
Rome is the capital city of Italy.
Rome has almost 3 million inhabitants.
There are different methods for aligning elements side by side, all include some CSS styling. We will look at the most common methods:
Float
The CSS float property was not originally meant to align <div> elements side-by-side, but has been used for this purpose for many years.
The CSS float property is used for positioning and formatting content and allow elements float next to each other instead of on top of each other.
Example
How to use float to align div elements side by side:
<style>
.mycontainer {
width:100%;
overflow:auto;
}
.mycontainer div {
width:33%;
float:left;
}
</style>
Result
London
London is the capital city of England.
London has over 13 million inhabitants.
Oslo
Oslo is the capital city of Norway.
Oslo has over 600.000 inhabitants.
Rome
Rome is the capital city of Italy.
Rome has almost 3 million inhabitants.
Inline-block
If you change the <div> element’s display property from block to inline-block, the <div> elements will no longer add a line break before and after, and will be displayed side by side instead of on top of each other.
Example
How to use display: inline-block to align div elements side by side:
<style>
div {
width: 30%;
display: inline-block;
}
</style>
Result
London
London is the capital city of England.
London has over 13 million inhabitants.
Oslo
Oslo is the capital city of Norway.
Oslo has over 600.000 inhabitants.
Rome
Rome is the capital city of Italy.
Rome has almost 3 million inhabitants.
Flex
The CSS Flexbox Layout Module was introduced to make it easier to design flexible responsive layout structure without using float or positioning.
To make the CSS flex method work, surround the <div> elements with another <div> element and give it the status as a flex container.
Example
How to use flex to align div elements side by side:
<style>
.mycontainer {
display: flex;
}
.mycontainer > div {
width:33%;
}
</style>
Result
London
London is the capital city of England.
London has over 13 million inhabitants.
Oslo
Oslo is the capital city of Norway.
Oslo has over 600.000 inhabitants.
Rome
Rome is the capital city of Italy.
Rome has almost 3 million inhabitants.
Grid
The CSS Grid Layout Module offers a grid-based layout system, with rows and columns, making it easier to design web pages without having to use floats and positioning.
Sounds almost the same as flex, but has the ability to define more than one row and position each row individually.
The CSS grid method requires that you surround the <div> elements with another <div> element and give the status as a grid container, and you must specify the width of each column.
Example
How to use grid to align <div> elements side by side:
<style>
.grid-container {
display: grid;
grid-template-columns: 33% 33% 33%;
}
</style>
Result
London
London is the capital city of England.
London has over 13 million inhabitants.
Oslo
Oslo is the capital city of Norway.
Oslo has over 600.000 inhabitants.
Rome
Rome is the capital city of Italy.
Rome has almost 3 million inhabitants.
HTML Tags
| Tag | Description |
|---|---|
| <div> | Defines a section in a document (block-level) |
