Where does the mysterious automatically added margin originate from?

Question

Where does the mysterious automatically added margin originate from?

Upon reviewing the image, it's apparent that a user navigation menu with icons has been successfully created.

An observant eye may have noticed a small undesirable margin between these elements.

The CSS responsible for producing the box is as follows:

background-color: hsla(0, 0%, 30%, 0.30);
border-radius: 5px;
height: 45px;

Each individual icon possesses its unique CSS class.

.userIcon,
.loginIcon,
.logoutIcon,
.registerIcon,
.settingsIcon
{
    border-right: 1px solid hsl(0, 0%, 30%);
    display: inline-block;
    height: 45px;
    width: 45px;
}

.userIcon
{
    background: url(user.svg) no-repeat center;
    background-size: 30px;
}

.loginIcon
{
    background: url(login.svg) no-repeat center;
    background-size: 30px;
}

/* ... other icons ... */

The HTML markup of the box is structured as shown below:

<div class="usermenu">
  <a href="/user" class="userIcon"></a>
  <a href="/settings" class="settingsIcon"></a>
  <a href="/login" class="loginIcon"></a>
</div>

Despite diligent inspection, the origin of this mysterious margin eludes me along with the solution to fix it. Any insights?

html css

Answer 1

Answer №1

Your elements are set to display inline block, making them inline elements that allow spaces between them. These spaces create what appears as margin in your layout.

JSFiddle

To remove this extra space, you can comment out the white-space or eliminate it entirely from your code:

<div class="usermenu">
    <a href="/user" class="userIcon"></a><!--
 --><a href="/settings" class="settingsIcon"></a><--
   --><a href="/login" class="loginIcon"></a>
</div>

JSFiddle

An alternative method to remove the extra space is by setting the font size to 0 for the parent element and then resetting it for the anchor elements so they do not inherit the zero font size:

.usermenu{
    font-size: 0;
}
.userIcon,
.loginIcon,
.logoutIcon,
.registerIcon,
.settingsIcon
{
    border-right: 1px solid hsl(0, 0%, 30%);
    display: inline-block;
    background:#f00;
    height: 45px;
    width: 45px;
    font-size: 16px;
}

JSFiddle

Answer 2

Your elements are set to display inline block, making them inline elements that allow spaces between them. These spaces create what appears as margin in your layout.

JSFiddle

To remove this extra space, you can comment out the white-space or eliminate it entirely from your code:

<div class="usermenu">
    <a href="/user" class="userIcon"></a><!--
 --><a href="/settings" class="settingsIcon"></a><--
   --><a href="/login" class="loginIcon"></a>
</div>

JSFiddle

An alternative method to remove the extra space is by setting the font size to 0 for the parent element and then resetting it for the anchor elements so they do not inherit the zero font size:

.usermenu{
    font-size: 0;
}
.userIcon,
.loginIcon,
.logoutIcon,
.registerIcon,
.settingsIcon
{
    border-right: 1px solid hsl(0, 0%, 30%);
    display: inline-block;
    background:#f00;
    height: 45px;
    width: 45px;
    font-size: 16px;
}

JSFiddle

Answer 3

Answer №2

The reason for this behavior is that browsers perceive elements with display: inline-block as "word" type entities that require spacing. Two common remedies include:

Add margin-right: -5px to inline-block elements.

Insert comments between inline-block elements:

<a href="#">inline-block</a><!--
--><a href="#">inline-block</a>

Utilize float: right or float: left in lieu of inline-block.

Answer 4

The reason for this behavior is that browsers perceive elements with display: inline-block as "word" type entities that require spacing. Two common remedies include:

Add margin-right: -5px to inline-block elements.

Insert comments between inline-block elements:

<a href="#">inline-block</a><!--
--><a href="#">inline-block</a>

Utilize float: right or float: left in lieu of inline-block.

Answer 5

Answer №3

When it comes to styling your HTML, it's important to consider how whitespace affects the layout of your elements. By setting display:inline-block;, you are essentially telling the browser to treat the spaces between your tags as actual spaces.

To eliminate these unwanted margins, you can update your HTML like this:

<div class="usermenu">
  <a href="/user" class="userIcon""></a><a href="/settings" class="settingsIcon"></a><a href="/login" class="loginIcon"></a>
</div>

Another option is to modify your CSS by using float:left instead of display:inline-block;:

.usericon, .loginicon, .logouticon, .registericon, .settingsicon {
  border-right: 1px solid hsl(0, 0%, 30%);
  display: inline-block;
  float: left;
  height:45px;
  width: 45px;
}

If you go with the float approach, don't forget to implement a clearfix on the parent div to maintain a clean code structure.

Answer 6

When it comes to styling your HTML, it's important to consider how whitespace affects the layout of your elements. By setting display:inline-block;, you are essentially telling the browser to treat the spaces between your tags as actual spaces.

To eliminate these unwanted margins, you can update your HTML like this:

<div class="usermenu">
  <a href="/user" class="userIcon""></a><a href="/settings" class="settingsIcon"></a><a href="/login" class="loginIcon"></a>
</div>

Another option is to modify your CSS by using float:left instead of display:inline-block;:

.usericon, .loginicon, .logouticon, .registericon, .settingsicon {
  border-right: 1px solid hsl(0, 0%, 30%);
  display: inline-block;
  float: left;
  height:45px;
  width: 45px;
}

If you go with the float approach, don't forget to implement a clearfix on the parent div to maintain a clean code structure.

Where does the mysterious automatically added margin originate from?

Answer №1

Answer №2

Answer №3

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