Can overflow text be centered?

Question

When I specify text-align:center for an element with a width that is greater than the width of the text, the text is centered within the content box of the elem

Answer 1

Strange requirement. I would expand the boxes to the texts size.

One possible solution might involve a negative text-indent: text-indent: -50px;, but that won't work for smaller texts (first DIV in your example). No better idea here right now.

Answer 2

this one seems to work: add a wrapper block with position relative and left:50% margin-left:-100% you can see it here Here's the code:

<style>
div {
    display: block;
    position: relative;
    left: 100px;
    height:1.5em;
    width: 100px;
    text-align: center;
    white-space: nowrap;
    border: 1px solid black;
    background-color: silver;
}
span{
    display:block;
    position:relative;
    left:50%;
    margin-left:-100%;
}
</style>
<div><span>some text</span></div>
<div><span>some text that will overflow</span></div>