Simplicity of this technique is stunning:
(This method has its implications though, but if you only need to center element regardless of flow of the rest of the content, it's just fine. Use with care)
Markup:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vestibulum accumsan tellus purus, et mollis nulla consectetur ac. Quisque id elit at diam convallis venenatis eget sed justo. Nunc egestas enim mauris, sit amet tempor risus ultricies in. Sed dignissim magna erat, vel laoreet tortor bibendum vitae. Ut porttitor tincidunt est imperdiet vestibulum. Vivamus id nibh tellus. Integer massa orci, gravida non imperdiet sed, consectetur ac quam. Nunc dignissim felis id tortor tincidunt, a eleifend nulla molestie. Phasellus eleifend leo purus, vel facilisis massa dignissim vitae. Pellentesque libero sapien, tincidunt ut lorem non, porta accumsan risus. Morbi tempus pharetra ex, vel luctus turpis tempus eu. Integer vitae sagittis massa, id gravida erat. Maecenas sed purus et magna tincidunt faucibus nec eget erat. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nunc nec mollis sem.
And CSS:
div {
color: white;
background: red;
padding: 15px;
position: absolute;
top: 50%;
left: 50%;
-ms-transform: translateX(-50%) translateY(-50%);
-webkit-transform: translate(-50%,-50%);
transform: translate(-50%,-50%);
}
This will center element horizontally and vertically too. No negative margins, just power of transforms. Also we should already forget about IE8 shouldn't we?
