This allows a widthless centered dynamic ul
if you don't want to specify 90% width:
<!doctype html>
<div class="navbar">
<div id="for-ie">
<ul>
<li><a href="Home">Home</a></li>
<li><a href="Discounts">Discounts</a></li>
<li><a href="Contact">Contact Us</a></li>
<li><a href="About">About Us</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<style>
.navbar {
width: 100%;
margin-left: auto ;
margin-right: auto ;
background-color: #ABCDEF;
}
.navbar ul {
list-style-type: none; /*to remove bullets*/
text-align: center;
margin: 0 auto;
padding: 0px;
border:1px solid red;
display:table;
overflow: hidden;
}
.navbar li{
float: left;
padding: 2px;
width: 150px;
margin-left: auto ;
margin-right: auto ;
}
</style>
<!--[if IE]>
<style>
#for-ie { text-align:center; }
#for-ie ul { display:inline-block; }
#for-ie ul { display:inline; }
</style>
<![endif]-->
Tested in IE6, FX 3.
EDIT: Alternate style without the extraneous element:
<!doctype html>
<div class="navbar">
<ul>
<li><a href="Home">Home</a></li>
<li><a href="Discounts">Discounts</a></li>
<li><a href="Contact">Contact Us</a></li>
<li><a href="About">About Us</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<style>
.navbar {
width: 100%;
margin-left: auto ;
margin-right: auto ;
background-color: #ABCDEF;
}
.navbar ul {
list-style-type: none; /*to remove bullets*/
text-align: center;
padding: 0px;
zoom:1;
border:1px solid red;
overflow: hidden;
}
.navbar li{
padding: 2px;
width: 150px;
display:inline-block;
}
</style>
<!--[if IE]>
<style>
.navbar li { display:inline; }
</style>
<![endif]-->
Are you looking for something like this:?
.navbar {
width: 100%;
margin-left: auto ;
margin-right: auto ;
background-color: #ABCDEF;
}
.navbar ul {
list-style-type: none; /*to remove bullets*/
text-align: center;
margin: 0px;
padding: 0px;
overflow: hidden;
}
.navbar li{
display:inline;
line-height:30px;
}
.navbar li a { padding:.4em 5em;}
<div class="navbar">
<ul>
<li><a href="Home">Home</a></li>
<li><a href="Discounts">Discounts</a></li>
<li><a href="Contact">Contact Us</a></li>
<li><a href="About">About Us</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
You can use text-align:fixed to do this with just a few lines of CSS, no extra markup.
See my answer here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/15232761/87520
<ul>
<li><a href="Home">Home</a></li>
<li><a href="Discounts">Discounts</a></li>
</ul>
<style>
.navbar > ul {text-align:justify;}
.navbar > ul > li {display:inline-block}
.navbar > ul:after { content:' '; display:inline-block; width: 100%; height: 0 }
</style>
The proper way to do this these days is to just use Flexbox:
.navbar ul {
list-style-type: none;
padding: 0;
display: flex;
flex-direction: row;
justify-content: space-around;
flex-wrap: nowrap; /* assumes you only want one row */
}
you need to define a fixed width for your container .
for example:
.navbar {
width: 1000px; /* */
margin: 0 auto;
background-color: #ABCDEF; }
if you want to keep your bg color of .navbar, stick with 100%, remove float left from li and style it like this->
.navbar ul {
list-style-type: none; /*to remove bullets*/
text-align: center;
margin: 0 auto;
padding: 0px;
width: 800px;
overflow: hidden;
}
.navbar li{
display: inline-block;
padding: 2px;
width: 150px;
marign: 0 auto;
}
you can use "display: table" and "display: table-cell" the code is cleaner and the li width isn't hardcoded:
<div class="navbar">
<ul>
<li><a href="Home">Home</a></li>
<li><a href="Discounts">Discounts</a></li>
<li><a href="Contact">Contact Us</a></li>
<li><a href="About">About Us</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
.navbar {
background-color: #ABCDEF;
}
.navbar ul {
list-style-type: none;
padding: 0px;
display: table;
table-layout: fixed;
width: 100%;
}
.navbar li{
padding: 2px;
display:table-cell;
width: 50px; /* just for the browser to get idea that all cells are equal */
text-align: center;
border: 1px solid #FF0000;
}
http://jsfiddle.net/dchwv6qn/1/