Question

I have tried about 6 different methods and have not been able to get this to work.

I am trying to center the “div.content” horizontally on the page while using position:absolute;

This method works in all browsers, but if you shrink the page size, a scroll bar appears at the bottom:

http://jsfiddle.net/AuqXY/16/

HTML:

<div class="wrapper">
    <div class="header"></div>
    <div class="footer"></div>
    <div class="content">
        <div class="content2">CENTER THIS DIV</div>
    </div>
</div>

CSS:

div.header {
    background:url('http://i.istockimg.com/file_thumbview_approve/11670843/2/stock-illustration-11670843-seamless-wallpaper-background-tile.jpg') top center repeat-x;
    height:150px;        
}

div.footer {
    background:url('http://www.featurepics.com/FI/Thumb300/20081029/Blue-Tile-Background-947601.jpg') top left repeat-x;
    height:150px;        
}

div.content {
    position:absolute;
    top:20px;
    left:50%;
    height:250px;
    width:300px;        
}

div.content2 {
    position:relative;
    left:-50%;
    background:white;  
    height:250px;
}

​

​

Answer 1

I would recommend using negative margin like this: http://jsfiddle.net/joshnh/HFwMT/

Here is the adjusted code:

HTML:

<div class="header"></div>
<div class="content">
   <div class="content2">HERE</div>
</div>
<div class="footer"></div>​

CSS:

.header {
    background: url('http://i.istockimg.com/file_thumbview_approve/11670843/2/stock-illustration-11670843-seamless-wallpaper-background-tile.jpg') top center repeat-x;
    height: 150px;        
}
.footer {
    background: url('http://www.featurepics.com/FI/Thumb300/20081029/Blue-Tile-Background-947601.jpg') top left repeat-x;
    height: 150px;        
}
.content2 {
    background: #fff;  
    height: 250px;
    left: 50%;
    margin-left: -150px; /* Half of the width */
    margin-top: -130px;   
    position: absolute;
    width: 300px;
}​