Is adjusting the margins of a child element in a parent container causing changes to the width of the child element in CSS

Struggling to grasp the concepts of padding, margins, and negative margins in CSS, I decided to test my knowledge by creating the following code snippet.

Upon adding a margin to my "row" class, I anticipated that:

  • A positive margin-left of 20px would shift my "row" div 20px to the left.
  • A negative margin-left of 20px would move my "row" div 20px to the right.

However, the reality turned out quite differently:

  • A positive margin-left actually reduced the width of my "row" div by 20px from the left.
  • Conversely, a negative margin-left increased the width of my "row" div by 20px to the left.

I suspect this behavior may be due to the fact that my "row" div is nested within the "container" div. Nevertheless, I am unsure why this unexpected result is occurring. Any insights on this matter would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you for your help!

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style type="text/css">

.container {
    width: 200px;
    height: 200px;
    padding-left: 20px;
    padding-right: 20px;
    background-color: red;
}

.row {
    margin-left: 20px;
    background-color: yellow;
}

.row::after {
    content: "";
    display: block;
    clear: both; 
}

.col { 
    background-color: blue;
    float: left; 
    width: 20%;
}

</style>
    <title>Margintest</title>
</head>
<body>
<div class = "container">
    <div class = "row">  
        <div class = "col"> ok </div>
        <div class = "col"> ok </div>
        <div class = "col"> ok </div>
        <div class = "col"> ok </div>
        <div class = "col"> ok </div>
        <div class = "col"> ok </div>

    </div>
</div>

</body>
</html>

Answer №1

Quick response:

https://i.sstatic.net/qgJF5.png

(Excuse my not-so-great illustration)

Detailed explanation:

It appears that there might be some confusion regarding margin usage. A margin provides an element with a transparent space outside of its border.

In the specific scenario you provided, the left border of the row is depicted as the blue line (although not extending fully). The margin of the row shifts it 20px to the right.

To delve deeper into understanding margin and padding, I recommend exploring these resources:

Answer №2

The issue does not stem from the div being nested within another div, but rather from the absence of a defined width for the row div.
When no width is explicitly set, the default behavior is to inherit the width from its parent element while accounting for margins, padding, etc.

Is this clarification helpful?

Answer №3

Margin refers to the space surrounding an element.

margin-left: 20px;

This code indicates that there should be 20 pixels of space on the left side of the element, effectively shifting it towards the right. It's important to note that adding margin does not typically alter the width of the element itself.

In certain scenarios, like yours, the width may appear to decrease due to the container being set at a fixed width of 200px. The row element aims to occupy this entire space, causing it to adjust its own width accordingly if margins are introduced, leading to the perception of reduced width.

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