How to align 3 divs (left/center/right) inside another div?

I want to have 3 divs aligned inside a container div, something like this:

[[LEFT]       [CENTER]        [RIGHT]]

Container div is 100% wide (no set width), and center div should remain in center after resizing the container.

So I set:

#container{width:100%;}
#left{float:left;width:100px;}
#right{float:right;width:100px;}
#center{margin:0 auto;width:100px;}

But it becomes:

[[LEFT]       [CENTER]              ]
                              [RIGHT]

Any tips?

Solution 1:

With that CSS, put your divs like so (floats first):

<div id="container">
  <div id="left"></div>
  <div id="right"></div>
  <div id="center"></div>
</div>

P.S. You could also float right, then left, then center. The important thing is that the floats come before the "main" center section.

P.P.S. You often want last inside #container this snippet: <div style="clear:both;"></div> which will extend #container vertically to contain both side floats instead of taking its height only from #center and possibly allowing the sides to protrude out the bottom.

Solution 2:

Aligning Three Divs Horizontally Using Flexbox

Here is a CSS3 method for aligning divs horizontally inside another div.

#container {
  display: flex;                  /* establish flex container */
  flex-direction: row;            /* default value; can be omitted */
  flex-wrap: nowrap;              /* default value; can be omitted */
  justify-content: space-between; /* switched from default (flex-start, see below) */
  background-color: lightyellow;
}
#container > div {
  width: 100px;
  height: 100px;
  border: 2px dashed red;
}

<div id="container">
  <div></div>
  <div></div>
  <div></div>
</div>

jsFiddle

The justify-content property takes five values:

flex-start (default)
flex-end
center
space-between
space-around

In all cases, the three divs are on the same line. For a description of each value see: https://stackoverflow.com/a/33856609/3597276

Benefits of flexbox:

minimal code; very efficient
centering, both vertically and horizontally, is simple and easy
equal height columns are simple and easy
multiple options for aligning flex elements
it's responsive
unlike floats and tables, which offer limited layout capacity because they were never intended for building layouts, flexbox is a modern (CSS3) technique with a broad range of options.

To learn more about flexbox visit:

Methods for Aligning Flex Items
Using CSS flexible boxes ~ MDN
A Complete Guide to Flexbox ~ CSS-Tricks
What the Flexbox?! ~ YouTube video tutorial

Browser support: Flexbox is supported by all major browsers, except IE < 10. Some recent browser versions, such as Safari 8 and IE10, require vendor prefixes. For a quick way to add prefixes use Autoprefixer. More details in this answer.

Solution 3:

If you do not want to change your HTML structure you can also do by adding text-align: center; to the wrapper element and a display: inline-block; to the centered element.

#container {
    width:100%;
    text-align:center;
}

#left {
    float:left;
    width:100px;
}

#center {
    display: inline-block;
    margin:0 auto;
    width:100px;
}

#right {
    float:right;
    width:100px;
}

Live Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/CH9K8/

Solution 4:

Float property is actually not used to align the text.

This property is used to add element to either right or left or center.

div > div { border: 1px solid black;}

<html>
     <div>
         <div style="float:left">First</div>
         <div style="float:left">Second</div>
         <div style="float:left">Third</div>

         <div style="float:right">First</div>
         <div style="float:right">Second</div>
         <div style="float:right">Third</div>
     </div>
</html>

for float:left output will be [First][second][Third]

for float:right output will be [Third][Second][First]

That means float => left property will add your next element to left of previous one, Same case with right

Also you have to Consider the width of parent element, if the sum of widths of child elements exceed the width of parent element then the next element will be added at next line

 <html>
     <div style="width:100%">
       <div style="float:left;width:50%">First</div>
       <div style="float:left;width:50%">Second</div>
       <div style="float:left;width:50%">Third</div>
     </div>
</html>

[First] [Second]

[Third]

So you need to Consider All these aspect to get the perfect result

Solution 5:

There are several tricks available for aligning the elements.

01. Using Table Trick

.container{
  display:table;
 }

.left{
  background:green;
  display:table-cell;
  width:33.33vw;
}

.center{
  background:gold;
  display:table-cell;
  width:33.33vw;
}

.right{
  background:gray;
  display:table-cell;
  width:33.33vw;
}

<div class="container">
  <div class="left">
    Left
  </div>
  <div class="center">
    Center
  </div>
  <div class="right">
    Right
  </div>
</div>

02. Using Flex Trick

.container{
  display:flex;
  justify-content: center;
  align-items: center;
   }

.left{
  background:green;
  width:33.33vw;
}

.center{
  background:gold;
   width:33.33vw;
}

.right{
  background:gray;
   width:33.33vw;
}

<div class="container">
  <div class="left">
    Left
  </div>
  <div class="center">
    Center
  </div>
  <div class="right">
    Right
  </div>
</div>

03. Using Float Trick

.left{
  background:green;
  width:100px;
  float:left;
}

.center{
   background:gold;
   width:100px;
   float:left;
}

.right{
   background:gray;
   width:100px;
   float:left;
}

<div class="container">
  <div class="left">
    Left
  </div>
  <div class="center">
    Center
  </div>
  <div class="right">
    Right
  </div>
</div>