Larger div centered inside smaller div

Question

I have a div (#containment) inside another div (#edit). The outer div is smaller. The inner div\'s size will be changed by some jQuery code.

Answer 1

Updated Fiddle

#containment{
    width:500px; height:500px; opacity:0.5;  background:red;
    position : absolute;
    left: 50%;
    top: 50%;
    -webkit-transform: translate(-50%, -50%);
    -moz-transform: translate(-50%, -50%);
    -ms-transform: translate(-50%, -50%);
    transform: translate(-50%, -50%);
}

By using transform, you're not dependent of the width and height from the parent container. See caniuse for browser support.

The properties left and top are setting the top-left-edge of the element to the center of the parent. By using translate, it shifts the X- and Y-Position back by 50 percent of its own dimensions.

You can find more information about transform on developer.mozilla.org - transform

Answer 2

Yes. You can do that.

#edit{
    width:200px;
    height:200px;
    overflow:visible;
    margin:200px 0 0 200px;
    background:gray;
    position : relative;
}
#containment{
    width:500px;
    height:500px;
    opacity:0.5;
    background:red;
    position : absolute;
    top : -150px;
    left : -150px;
}

Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/fzAge/2/

Answer 3

The child <div> should have the following CSS properties

position: relative;
width: 500px;
height: 500px;
left: 50%;
margin-left: -250px; /* -(width/2) */
top: 50%;
margin-top: -250px; /* -(height/2) */

So if you're changing the child div via jQuery then you must re-calculate the margins...

JSFiddle

http://jsfiddle.net/gvee/fzAge/5/

Initialised CSS

#edit
{
    overflow: hidden;
}

#containment
{
    background-image: url(http://placekitten.com/500/500);
    position: relative;
    left: 50%;
    top: 50%;
    margin-left: -250px;
    margin-top: -250px;
}

JQuery

$('#edit').click(function() {
    var newWidth  = 100 + Math.floor(Math.random() * 500);
    var newHeight = 100 + Math.floor(Math.random() * 500);
    // Resize the child div
    $('#containment').width(newWidth).height(newHeight);

    // Let's assign a new background too, eh!
    $('#containment').css({'background-image': 'url(http://placekitten.com/' + newWidth + '/' + newHeight + ')'});

    // Now re-calculate the margins...
    var newLeftMargin = (newWidth  / -2);
    var newTopMargin  = (newHeight / -2);
    $('#containment').css({'margin-left': newLeftMargin, 'margin-top': newTopMargin});
});