Elements refuse to show up in a single line

Question

Elements refuse to show up in a single line

I've styled two div elements with the properties below:

.elem1 {
    width: 47.5%;
    margin-right: 2.5%;
    display: inline-block;
}

.elem2 {
    width: 47.5%;
    margin-right: 2.5%;
    display: inline-block;
}

Note: When I decrease the margins to 2.25%, the elements align inline within the parent body. However, if I wrap them in a narrower div, the second element breaks to a new line.

Even though they add up to 100% of the parent's width, the elements are not consistently positioned inline. How can this be resolved to ensure they always stay inline?

The goal is to essentially have them float without using the float property.

You can view the fiddles below for better visualization:

The CSS solution should only involve the two elem elements as no user-defined parent container might be present.

html css

Answer 1

Answer №1

When using inline elements, it's important to be mindful of the potential extra spacing that can occur due to line breaks in the code. To prevent this issue and ensure that div elements appear without any unnecessary gaps, adding comments between the elements is a helpful workaround. These comments not only override the default behavior but also serve as a visual cue for both myself and others reviewing the code.

<div class="box1" style="width: 100px; background-color: blue;"></div><!--
    Inserting a comment here eliminates the space between these two elements.
--><div class="box2" style="width: 100px; background-color: blue;"></div>

Answer 2

When using inline elements, it's important to be mindful of the potential extra spacing that can occur due to line breaks in the code. To prevent this issue and ensure that div elements appear without any unnecessary gaps, adding comments between the elements is a helpful workaround. These comments not only override the default behavior but also serve as a visual cue for both myself and others reviewing the code.

<div class="box1" style="width: 100px; background-color: blue;"></div><!--
    Inserting a comment here eliminates the space between these two elements.
--><div class="box2" style="width: 100px; background-color: blue;"></div>

Answer 3

Answer №2

display: inline-block; typically creates some extra space afterwards. To eliminate this space, you can use font-size: 0 for the .container class.

Check out an example here.

* {
  margin: 0;
  padding: 0;
}

.container {
  width: 75%;
  font-size: 0;
  border: 1px solid red;
  margin: 0 auto;
  position: relative;
  display: inline-block;
}

.elem1 {
  width: 47.5%;
  margin-right: 2.25%;
  display: inline-block;
}

.elem2 {
  width: 47.5%;
  margin-right: 2.25%;
  display: inline-block;
}

<div class="container">
  <div class="elem1" style="height: 50px; background-color: black;"></div>
  <div class="elem2" style="height: 50px; background-color: black;"></div>
</div>

Read more about dealing with spaces between inline-block elements here.

Answer 4

display: inline-block; typically creates some extra space afterwards. To eliminate this space, you can use font-size: 0 for the .container class.

Check out an example here.

* {
  margin: 0;
  padding: 0;
}

.container {
  width: 75%;
  font-size: 0;
  border: 1px solid red;
  margin: 0 auto;
  position: relative;
  display: inline-block;
}

.elem1 {
  width: 47.5%;
  margin-right: 2.25%;
  display: inline-block;
}

.elem2 {
  width: 47.5%;
  margin-right: 2.25%;
  display: inline-block;
}

<div class="container">
  <div class="elem1" style="height: 50px; background-color: black;"></div>
  <div class="elem2" style="height: 50px; background-color: black;"></div>
</div>

Read more about dealing with spaces between inline-block elements here.

Answer 5

Answer №3

If your browser supports it, you can incorporate display: flex into the parent element. For instance, in this case, I applied it to the body.

body {
  display: flex;
}

.elem1 {
  width: 47.5%;
  margin-right: 2.5%;
  display: inline-block;
}

.elem2 {
  width: 47.5%;
  margin-right: 2.5%;
  display: inline-block;
}

<div class="elem1" style="height: 50px; background-color: black;"></div>
<div class="elem2" style="height: 50px; background-color: black;"></div>

This technique also applies to the third example. I introduced display: flex to .container.

* {
  margin: 0;
  padding: 0;
}

.container {
  width: 75%;
  border: 1px solid red;
  margin: 0 auto;
  position: relative;
  display: flex;
}

.elem1 {
  width: 47.5%;
  margin-right: 2.25%;
  display: inline-block;
}

.elem2 {
  width: 47.5%;
  margin-right: 2.25%;
  display: inline-block;
}

<div class="container">
  <div class="elem1" style="height: 50px; background-color: black;"></div>
  <div class="elem2" style="height: 50px; background-color: black;"></div>
</div>

Answer 6

If your browser supports it, you can incorporate display: flex into the parent element. For instance, in this case, I applied it to the body.

body {
  display: flex;
}

.elem1 {
  width: 47.5%;
  margin-right: 2.5%;
  display: inline-block;
}

.elem2 {
  width: 47.5%;
  margin-right: 2.5%;
  display: inline-block;
}

<div class="elem1" style="height: 50px; background-color: black;"></div>
<div class="elem2" style="height: 50px; background-color: black;"></div>

This technique also applies to the third example. I introduced display: flex to .container.

* {
  margin: 0;
  padding: 0;
}

.container {
  width: 75%;
  border: 1px solid red;
  margin: 0 auto;
  position: relative;
  display: flex;
}

.elem1 {
  width: 47.5%;
  margin-right: 2.25%;
  display: inline-block;
}

.elem2 {
  width: 47.5%;
  margin-right: 2.25%;
  display: inline-block;
}

<div class="container">
  <div class="elem1" style="height: 50px; background-color: black;"></div>
  <div class="elem2" style="height: 50px; background-color: black;"></div>
</div>

Answer 7

Answer №4

Through my investigation, I discovered that using a negative margin is currently the most widely supported method, in contrast to other effective solutions such as font-size: 0; and display: flex.

To implement this approach, I included the following code snippet:

.element2 {
    margin-left: calc(2.5% - 4px);
}

Answer 8

Through my investigation, I discovered that using a negative margin is currently the most widely supported method, in contrast to other effective solutions such as font-size: 0; and display: flex.

To implement this approach, I included the following code snippet:

.element2 {
    margin-left: calc(2.5% - 4px);
}

Elements refuse to show up in a single line

Answer №1

Answer №2

Answer №3

Answer №4

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