Question

How to center an image in a div - both vertically and horizontally

Asked by: alicia1234

I have a div ("featureimage") of a fixed size - 160 x 160 pixels.
I display a photo in it.

If the photo is smaller than the div, I want it centered both vertically and horizontally in the div.

The text-align: center takes care of the horizontal centering, but I can't figure out how to do the vertical alignment. Obviously, vertical-align:center does nothing.

Also, if the photo is larger than 160 wide I want to scale it to fix the 160 width; scaling would be proportional but based on not letting it get any wider than 160.

And finally, if the photo is taller than 160 high, but fits the 160 width, I'd want to crop it (I think the overflow: hidden will handle that).

The most important part of this question, however, is the vertical centering.

Thanks.

CSS:
div#featureimage { height: 160px; width: 160px; text-align: center; overflow: hidden; }
 
HTML:
<div id="featureimage">
<img src="my_image.png />
</div>

                                  
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Asked On
2009-10-29 at 13:10:56ID24856106
Topic

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)

Participating Experts
1
Points
250
Comments
13

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Answers

 

by: andre23Posted on 2009-10-29 at 13:34:19ID: 25697948

try vertical-align: middle;

middle is the key - not center ;-)

regards,
andre

 

by: alicia1234Posted on 2009-10-29 at 13:41:07ID: 25698021

No - vertical-align: middle does not work.
Here's actual code (size is different from what I said in my question, but that doesn't matter).

div#featureimage { float: left; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 20px; width: 116px; height: 116px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; background-color:#FF9933; }
                                              
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by: andre23Posted on 2009-10-29 at 14:09:49ID: 25698291

use a table without float: left; and it will work.

<table>
  <tr>
    <td style="margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 20px; width: 116px; height: 116px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; background-color:#FF9933;">
      <img src="my_image.png />
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>
                                              
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by: alicia1234Posted on 2009-10-29 at 14:36:13ID: 25698506

Thanks. I know that table will work. I'm trying to avoid the use of tables for layout.

 

by: andre23Posted on 2009-10-29 at 14:57:41ID: 25698670

okay - the problem is: you do not want to vertical-align the div - you want to vertical-align the img - so just try this:

<div style="float: left; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 20px; width: 116px; height: 116px; text-align: center; background-color:#FF9933;">
  <p>
    <img style="vertical-align: middle;" src="my_image.png />
  </p>
</div>
                                              
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by: alicia1234Posted on 2009-10-29 at 15:04:10ID: 25698712

Thanks. But sorry - that has no affect at all - with or without the <p> tag that you added. I even tried putting the style on the <p> tag. Absolutely no affect.

 

by: andre23Posted on 2009-10-29 at 15:06:49ID: 25698738

interesting. i tried it with Firefox 3.5.3 - and it worked - tried it with IE 8.0.6001.18702 and it did not work...

 

by: andre23Posted on 2009-10-29 at 15:12:37ID: 25698774

I found a good information for you: http://www.brunildo.org/test/img_center.html

 

by: alicia1234Posted on 2009-10-29 at 15:12:43ID: 25698776

hmmm .. .I tried it in FF 3.5.3 and IE7 ...

div#featureimage { float: left; padding-left: 5px; width: 165px; height: 136px; text-align: center; background-image:url(../images/bg_feature.png); background-repeat: repeat-x; }
 
 
<div id="featureimage">
<p><img style="vertical-align:middle;" src="images/feature_image.png" /></p>
</div> <!-- featureimage -->

                                              
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by: alicia1234Posted on 2009-10-29 at 15:29:12ID: 25698887

Thanks. That works beautifully!

 

by: alicia1234Posted on 2009-10-29 at 15:33:03ID: 25698900

oops! Closed it out too soon. I need all of my css to be in an external .css file. So how do I do the conditional for IE8 inside of the .css file?

<!--[if lt IE 8]><style>
.wraptocenter span {
    display: inline-block;
    height: 100%;
}
</style><![endif]-->

                                              
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by: andre23Posted on 2009-10-29 at 15:41:41ID: 25698949

you can include another file for IE8:

<!--[if lt IE 8]>
<link href="ie8style.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">
<![endif]-->

and put the stuff into this file

 

by: alicia1234Posted on 2009-10-29 at 15:44:26ID: 25698962

Thanks!

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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