How do I center floated elements?

Question

I\'m implementing pagination, and it needs to be centered. The problem is that the links need to be displayed as block, so they need to be floated. But then, text-alig

Answer 1

IE7 doesn't know inline-block. You must add:

display:inline;
zoom: 1;

Answer 2

You can also do this by changing .pagination by replacing "text-align: center" with two to three lines of css for left, transform and, depending on circumstances, position.

.pagination {
  left: 50%; /* left-align your element to center */
  transform: translateX(-50%); /* offset left by half the width of your element */
  position: absolute; /* use or dont' use depending on element parent */
}
.pagination a {
  display: block;
  width: 30px;
  height: 30px;
  float: left;
  margin-left: 3px;
  background: url(/images/structure/pagination-button.png);
}
.pagination a.last {
  width: 90px;
  background: url(/images/structure/pagination-button-last.png);
}
.pagination a.first {
  width: 60px;
  background: url(/images/structure/pagination-button-first.png);
}

<div class='pagination'>
  <a class='first' href='#'>First</a>
  <a href='#'>1</a>
  <a href='#'>2</a>
  <a href='#'>3</a>
  <a class='last' href='#'>Last</a>
</div>
<!-- end: .pagination -->

Answer 3

Just adding

left:15%; 

into my css menu of

#menu li {
float: left;
position:relative;
left: 15%;
list-style:none;
}

did the centering trick too

Answer 4

I think the best way is using margin instead of display.

I.e.:

.pagination a {
    margin-left: auto;
    margin-right: auto;
    width: 30px;
    height: 30px;    
    background: url(/images/structure/pagination-button.png);
}

Check the result and the code:

http://cssdeck.com/labs/d9d6ydif

Answer 5

Using Flex

.pagination {
  text-align: center;
  display:flex;
  justify-content:center;
}
.pagination a {
  display: block;
  width: 30px;
  height: 30px;
  float: left;
  margin-left: 3px;
  background: url(/images/structure/pagination-button.png);
}
.pagination a.last {
  width: 90px;
  background: url(/images/structure/pagination-button-last.png);
}
.pagination a.first {
  width: 60px;
  background: url(/images/structure/pagination-button-first.png);
}

<div class='pagination'>
  <a class='first' href='#'>First</a>
  <a href='#'>1</a>
  <a href='#'>2</a>
  <a href='#'>3</a>
  <a class='last' href='#'>Last</a>
</div>
<!-- end: .pagination -->

Answer 6

Since many years I use an old trick I learned in some blog, I'm sorry i don't remember the name to give him credits.

Anyway to center floating elements this should work:

You need a structure like this:

    .main-container {
      float: left;
      position: relative;
      left: 50%;
    }
    .fixer-container {
      float: left;
      position: relative;
      left: -50%;
    }

<div class="main-container">
  <div class="fixer-container">
    <ul class="list-of-floating-elements">

      <li class="floated">Floated element</li>
      <li class="floated">Floated element</li>
      <li class="floated">Floated element</li>

    </ul>
  </div>
</div>

the trick is giving float left to make the containers change the width depending on the content. Than is a matter of position:relative and left 50% and -50% on the two containers.

The good thing is that this is cross browser and should work from IE7+.