CSS Margin


The CSS margin properties define the space around elements.


Margin

The margin clears an area around an element (outside the border). The margin does not have a background color, and is completely transparent.

The top, right, bottom, and left margin can be changed independently using separate properties. A shorthand margin property can also be used, to change all margins at once.

Possible Values

Value Description
auto The browser calculates a margin
length Specifies a margin in px, pt, cm, etc. Default value is 0px
% Specifies a margin in percent of the width of the containing element
inherit Specifies that the margin should be inherited from the parent element
Note Note: It is also possible to use negative values, to overlap content.

Margin - Individual sides

In CSS, it is possible to specify different margins for different sides of an element:

Example

p {
    margin-top: 100px;
    margin-bottom: 100px;
    margin-right: 150px;
    margin-left: 50px;
}

Try it yourself »

Margin - Shorthand property

To shorten the code, it is possible to specify all the margin properties in one property. This is called a shorthand property.

The shorthand property for all the margin properties is "margin":

Example

p {
    margin: 100px 50px;
}

Try it yourself »

The margin property can have from one to four values.

  • margin: 25px 50px 75px 100px;
    • top margin is 25px
    • right margin is 50px
    • bottom margin is 75px
    • left margin is 100px

  • margin: 25px 50px 75px;
    • top margin is 25px
    • right and left margins are 50px
    • bottom margin is 75px

  • margin: 25px 50px;
    • top and bottom margins are 25px
    • right and left margins are 50px

  • margin: 25px;
    • all four margins are 25px

Examples

More Examples

Set the top margin of a text using a cm value
This example demonstrates how to set the top margin of a text using a cm value.

Set the bottom margin of a text using a percent value
This example demonstrates how to set the bottom margin in percent, relative to the width of the containing element.


All CSS Margin Properties

Property Description
margin A shorthand property for setting the margin properties in one declaration
margin-bottom Sets the bottom margin of an element
margin-left Sets the left margin of an element
margin-right Sets the right margin of an element
margin-top Sets the top margin of an element


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