The margin property defines the space around an HTML element. It is possible to use negative values to overlap content.
The values of the margin property are not inherited by child elements. Remember that the adjacent vertical margins (top and bottom margins) will collapse into each other so that the distance between the blocks is not the sum of the margins, but only the greater of the two margins or the same size as one margin if both are equal.
There are following four properties to set an element margin.
- The margin A shorthand property for setting the margin properties in one declaration.
- The margin-bottom Specifies the bottom margin of an element.
- The margin-top Specifies the top margin of an element.
- The margin-left Specifies the left margin of an element.
- The margin-right Specifies the right margin of an element.
Now we will see how to use these properties with examples.
The margin Property:
The margin property allows you set all of the properties for the four margins in one declaration. Here is the syntax to set margin around a paragraph:
| <style type="text/css"> p {margin: 15px} all four margins will be 15px p {margin: 10px 2%} top and bottom margin will be 10px, left and right margin will be 2% of the total width of the document. p {margin: 10px 2% -10px} top margin will be 10px, left and right margin will be 2% of the total width of the document, bottom margin will be -10px p {margin: 10px 2% -10px auto} top margin will be 10px, right margin will be 2% of the total width of the document, bottom margin will be -10px, left margin will be set by the browser </style> |
Here is the example:
| <p style="margin: 15px; border:1px solid black;"> all four margins will be 15px </p> <p style="margin:10px 2%; border:1px solid black;"> top and bottom margin will be 10px, left and right margin will be 2% of the total width of the document. </p> <p style="margin: 10px 2% -10px; border:1px solid black;"> top margin will be 10px, left and right margin will be 2% of the total width of the document, bottom margin will be -10px </p> <p style="margin: 10px 2% -10px auto; border:1px solid black;"> top margin will be 10px, right margin will be 2% of the total width of the document, bottom margin will be -10px, left margin will be set by the browser </p> |
This will produce following result:
all four margins will be 10px
top and bottom margin will be 10px, left and right margin will be 2% of the total width of the document.
top margin will be 10px, left and right margin will be 2% of the total width of the document, bottom margin will be -10px
top margin will be 10px, right margin will be 2% of the total width of the document, bottom margin will be -10px, left margin will be set by the browser
|
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The margin-bottom Property:
The margin-bottom property allows you set bottom margin of an element. It can have a value in length, % or auto.
Here is the example:
| <p style="margin-bottom: 15px; border:1px solid black;"> This is a paragraph with a specified bottom margin </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 5%; border:1px solid black;"> This is another paragraph with a specified bottom margin in percent </p> |
This will produce following result:
This is a paragraph with a specified bottom margin
This is another paragraph with a specified bottom margin in percent
|
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The margin-top Property:
The margin-top property allows you set top margin of an element. It can have a value in length, % or auto.
Here is the example:
| <p style="margin-top: 15px; border:1px solid black;"> This is a paragraph with a specified top margin </p> <p style="margin-top: 5%; border:1px solid black;"> This is another paragraph with a specified top margin in percent </p> |
This will produce following result:
This is a paragraph with a specified top margin
This is another paragraph with a specified top margin in percent
|
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The margin-left Property:
The margin-left property allows you set left margin of an element. It can have a value in length, % or auto.
Here is the example:
| <p style="margin-left: 15px; border:1px solid black;"> This is a paragraph with a specified left margin </p> <p style="margin-left: 5%; border:1px solid black;"> This is another paragraph with a specified top margin in percent </p> |
This will produce following result:
This is a paragraph with a specified left margin
This is another paragraph with a specified top margin in percent
|
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The margin-right Property:
The margin-right property allows you set right margin of an element. It can have a value in length, % or auto.
Here is the example:
| <p style="margin-right: 15px; border:1px solid black;"> This is a paragraph with a specified right margin </p> <p style="margin-right: 5%; border:1px solid black;"> This is another paragraph with a specified right margin in percent </p> |
This will produce following result:
This is a paragraph with a specified right margin
This is another paragraph with a specified right margin in percent
|