
For many years the bane of any web designer's existence was something simple: centering an object on the page. Horizontally centering was one thing, but getting an item to vertically center was a whole different monster. Even worse was both vertically and horizontally centering an element. However, modern CSS stylings have made this a snap with just a few lines of code. Gone are the days of absolute positioning an element 50% of the top and left of its container and bumping it back negative 50% with a transform. Now we can use Flexbox or CSS Grid to quickly center the element and move on.

## Using Flexbox

Flexbox makes it very easy to align items in the center of the container with just three lines of CSS. Just set the display to `flex` and center the items horizontally (`justify-content: center`) and vertically (`align-items: center`).

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

Now all items originate from the center of the container!

It is important to note that if you change to `flex-direction: column` the properties have the opposite effect: `justify-content` becomes the vertical axis and `align-items` becomes the horizontal. Think of it as rotating the container element's axes.

## Using CSS Grid

Meanwhile, CSS Grid makes it even easier by only needing `place-items: center` to center elements in the grid. Just set the display to `grid`, place the items, and you're off to the races.

``` css
.container {
    display: grid;
    place-items: center;
}
```

If you want to control the individual axes you can use the same properties as we did with Flexbox instead, `justify-content` for the horizontal axis and `align-items` for the vertical.

``` css
.container {
    display: grid;
    justify-content: center;
    align-items: center;
}
```

Never get tripped up with centering an element on your website again. Whether you are using Flexbox or CSS Grid add a couple lines of code and move on to something more deserving of your skill and attention.

## Credit

_Today’s Tuesday Tips was adapted from [a series of posts on Daily Dev Tips](https://daily-dev-tips.com/posts/css-grid-most-easy-center-vertical-and-horizontal/)._



## Web Development Tools

[freeCodeCamp posted today](https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/handy-web-development-toolkit/) about the top 10 web development tools that every programmer should know. Topping off the list were VSCode, Webpack, and Cyprus. Check out the list over on freeCodeCamp’s blog to see which tools you’ve checked off your list.

## Flexbox or CSS Grid

Flexbox and CSS Grid are two great systems for laying out elements on your website. But sometimes it can be difficult to determine which one to use in a particular scenario. Luckily, [LogRocket just posted a complete guide](https://blog.logrocket.com/flexbox-vs-css-grid/) on their blog with tips and strategies for utilizing each system to their full potential.

## Quarantine UX

[Fast Company posted an interesting article](https://www.fastcompany.com/90485589/to-stomp-out-covid-19-america-will-need-a-better-warning-system) last week on how COVID-19 has changed user experience. Most notably the article discussed how delivery services can’t keep up with demand and the resurgence of marginal products. This begs the question: does our user experience need to shift to accommodate the rapidly changing environment?


Posts Tagged with "flexbox"

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