Html – How to overlay one div over another div

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I need assistance with overlaying one individual div over another individual div.

My code looks like this:

<div class="navi"></div>
<div id="infoi">
    <img src="info_icon2.png" height="20" width="32"/>
</div>

Unfortunately I cannot nest the div#infoi or the img, inside the first div.navi.

It has to be two separate divs as shown, but I need to know how I could place the div#infoi over the div.navi and to the right most side and centered on top of the div.navi.

Best Answer

#container {
  width: 100px;
  height: 100px;
  position: relative;
}
#navi,
#infoi {
  width: 100%;
  height: 100%;
  position: absolute;
  top: 0;
  left: 0;
}
#infoi {
  z-index: 10;
}

<div id="container">
  <div id="navi">a</div>
  <div id="infoi">
    <img src="https://appharbor.com/assets/images/stackoverflow-logo.png" height="20" width="32" />b
  </div>
</div>

I would suggest learning about position: relative and child elements with position: absolute.

2015 update: the flexbox approach

There are two other answers briefly mentioning flexbox; however, that was more than two years ago, and they don't provide any examples. The specification for flexbox has definitely settled now.

Note: Though CSS Flexible Boxes Layout specification is at the Candidate Recommendation stage, not all browsers have implemented it. WebKit implementation must be prefixed with -webkit-; Internet Explorer implements an old version of the spec, prefixed with -ms-; Opera 12.10 implements the latest version of the spec, unprefixed. See the compatibility table on each property for an up-to-date compatibility status.

(taken from https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Guide/CSS/Flexible_boxes)

All major browsers and IE11+ support Flexbox. For IE 10 or older, you can use the FlexieJS shim.

To check current support you can also see here: http://caniuse.com/#feat=flexbox

Working example

With flexbox you can easily switch between any of your rows or columns either having fixed dimensions, content-sized dimensions or remaining-space dimensions. In my example I have set the header to snap to its content (as per the OPs question), I've added a footer to show how to add a fixed-height region and then set the content area to fill up the remaining space.

html,
body {
  height: 100%;
  margin: 0;
}

.box {
  display: flex;
  flex-flow: column;
  height: 100%;
}

.box .row {
  border: 1px dotted grey;
}

.box .row.header {
  flex: 0 1 auto;
  /* The above is shorthand for:
  flex-grow: 0,
  flex-shrink: 1,
  flex-basis: auto
  */
}

.box .row.content {
  flex: 1 1 auto;
}

.box .row.footer {
  flex: 0 1 40px;
}

<!-- Obviously, you could use HTML5 tags like `header`, `footer` and `section` -->

<div class="box">
  <div class="row header">
    <p><b>header</b>
      <br />
      <br />(sized to content)</p>
  </div>
  <div class="row content">
    <p>
      <b>content</b>
      (fills remaining space)
    </p>
  </div>
  <div class="row footer">
    <p><b>footer</b> (fixed height)</p>
  </div>
</div>

In the CSS above, the flex property shorthands the flex-grow, flex-shrink, and flex-basis properties to establish the flexibility of the flex items. Mozilla has a good introduction to the flexible boxes model.

Html – How to horizontally center an element

You can apply this CSS to the inner <div>:

#inner {
  width: 50%;
  margin: 0 auto;
}

Of course, you don't have to set the width to 50%. Any width less than the containing <div> will work. The margin: 0 auto is what does the actual centering.

If you are targeting Internet Explorer 8 (and later), it might be better to have this instead:

#inner {
  display: table;
  margin: 0 auto;
}

It will make the inner element center horizontally and it works without setting a specific width.

Working example here:

#inner {
  display: table;
  margin: 0 auto;
  border: 1px solid black;
}

#outer {
  border: 1px solid red;
  width:100%
}

<div id="outer">
  <div id="inner">Foo foo</div>
</div>

EDIT

With flexbox it is very easy to style the div horizontally and vertically centered.

#inner {  
  border: 1px solid black;
}

#outer {
  border: 1px solid red;
  width:100%;
  display: flex;
  justify-content: center;
}

<div id="outer">
  <div id="inner">Foo foo</div>
</div>

To align the div vertically centered, use the property align-items: center.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Html – Make a div fill the height of the remaining screen space

2015 update: the flexbox approach

Working example

Html – How to horizontally center an element

EDIT

Related Topic