HTML Div
The `<div>` element is used as a container for other HTML elements.
The <div> element is used as a container for other HTML elements.
The 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
Example Code
htmlThe <div> element has no required attributes, but style, class and id are common.
as a container
The <div> element is often used to group sections of a web page together.
Example
Example Code
htmlCenter align a 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
Example Code
htmlMultiple elements
You can have many <div> containers on the same page.
Example
Example Code
htmlAligning 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 9 million inhabitants.
Oslo
Oslo is the capital city of Norway.
Oslo has over 700,000 inhabitants.
Rome
Rome is the capital city of Italy.
Rome has over 4 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 allows elements to be positioned horizontally, rather than vertically.
Example
Example Code
htmlLearn more about float in our CSS float tutorial.
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
Example Code
htmlFlex
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
Example Code
htmlLearn more about flex in our CSS flexbox tutorial.
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
Example Code
htmlLearn more about grid in our CSS grid tutorial.
HTML Tags
| Tag | Description |
|---|---|
<div> | Defines a section in a document (block-level) |
For a complete list of all available HTML tags, visit our HTML Tag Reference.