Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.

Start your free trial

CSS CSS Flexbox Layout Flexbox Properties Distributing Space Inside a Flex Container

Aakash Srivastav
seal-mask
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree
Aakash Srivastav
Full Stack JavaScript Techdegree Student 11,638 Points
Posted by Aakash Srivastav
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree
Aakash Srivastav
Full Stack JavaScript Techdegree Student 11,638 Points

justify-content

There are three divs and I want to center them horizontally . This is my HTML code-

<section>
<div class="container">
            <div class="col">
                <!-- logo -->
                <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/codecademy-content/projects/broadway/design.svg" width="40px" height="40px">
                <h2 class="tag-line">DESIGN</h2>
                <p>Make your projects look great and interact beautifully.</p>
                <a href="#" class="btn-default">Learn More</a>
            </div>
            <!-- <hr /> -->
            <div class="col">
                <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/codecademy-content/projects/broadway/develop.svg" width="40px" height="40px">  
                <h2 class="tag-line">DEVELOP</h2>
                <p>Use modern tools to turn your design into a web site</p>
                <a href="#" class="btn-default">Learn More</a>
            </div>
            <!-- <hr /> -->
            <div class="col">
                <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/codecademy-content/projects/broadway/deploy.svg" width="40px" height="40px">
                <h2 class="tag-line">DEPLOY</h2>
                <p>Use modern tools to turn your design into a web site</p>
                <a href="#" class="btn-default">Learn More</a>
            </div>

        </div>
</section>

Now I have two code snippets- 1.

section .container{
                display: flex;
                text-align: center;
        height: 340px;
        justify-content: center;
    }


    .col{
        width: 190px;
        margin: auto .5em;
    }

2.

section .container{
               display:flex;
               text-align: center;
        height: 340px;
        width: 80%;
        margin: 0 auto;
               justify-content: center;
    }


    .col{
        width: 190px;
        margin: auto .5em;
    }

I have done a very little change in second code snippet. I just gave and width to the container and center it. Obviously , I got the same result in both cases . Now my question is which is best choice? first or second? Actually I faced a lot of such situation where I have a choice for centering a container. So today i decided to ask in the TREEHOUSE forum. Thanks.

2 Answers

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,261 Points
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,261 Points

These are clearly different, the one with the margin and size constraint has a visible gap on the left side.

Also, I see one of the properties is "justify-content", but that has no effect on normal elements. That property only works in a flex container ("display: flex");

If you were to make the container use flex, then those would look the same which means the margin and width settings are unnecessary.

Aakash Srivastav
seal-mask
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree
Aakash Srivastav
Full Stack JavaScript Techdegree Student 11,638 Points
Aakash Srivastav
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree
Aakash Srivastav
Full Stack JavaScript Techdegree Student 11,638 Points

Sorry , Now I have updated my code. I acutally forgot to mention "display: flex" . I got my answer as you said "those would look the same which means the margin and width settings are unnecessary." Thanks :)