Question

I have a paragraph on a web page with 20 pixel margins on all 4 sides. I want to alter just the top and bottom paddings with a single property (so padding-top:0;padding-bottom:0; will not do).

What I have tried is demonstrated here.

http://jsfiddle.net/nFCru/1/

In this Fiddle, I tried to use padding: 30px inherit; to alter just the top and bottom paddings of a paragraph. However, this property-value pair sets the left and right paddings to 0 in addition to altering the top and bottom paddings.

p {
 border: 1px solid #000;
 padding: 20px;    
}

/* 
 * Here's my failed attempt at only altering the top 
 * and bottom padding values. The left and right padding
 * values are changing even if I use inherit.
 */

p {
 padding: 30px inherit;   
}​

Can I alter only the top and bottom paddings with one property?

Answer 1

No, you can’t. inherit means the element inherits the padding from its parent. That is, the body (or whatever element the p sits in), not the “original” p in the stylesheet. To leave the left and right padding intact, all you can do is use the two properties as you described.