Learn how to set element widths using pixels, ems, and percentages.
Create responsive designs.
The width
property in CSS sets how wide an element is. It can be the content area or the border area, depending on the box-sizing
property. This property is crucial for creating responsive designs that look good on different devices and screen sizes.
How width
Works
- Default Behavior: By default,
width
sets the width of the content area. Ifbox-sizing
is set toborder-box
, it sets the width of the border area. - Constraints: The
width
property is subject tomin-width
andmax-width
. Ifwidth
is less thanmin-width
,min-width
takes over. Ifwidth
is greater thanmax-width
,max-width
takes over. - SVG Elements:
width
also applies to SVG elements like<svg>
,<rect>
,<image>
, and<foreignObject>
. For instance,auto
resolves to100%
for<svg>
and0
for other elements, and percent values are relative to the SVG viewport width for<rect>
.
Example
Here’s a simple example to demonstrate the use of the width
property:
In this example, the paragraph with the class auto-width
will have its width automatically calculated by the browser, making it flexible and adaptive to different content and screen sizes.
Using initial
The width: initial
property sets an element’s width to its default value. This resets the width to its original state, ignoring any previously applied width styles.
Units: Pixels and Ems
You can set the width of an element using pixels (px
) and ems (em
). Pixels are fixed, while ems are relative to the font size.
Example using max-content
The max-content
value sets the width of an element to its intrinsic preferred width.
And the HTML:
Formal Definition
- Initial Value:
auto
. The browser calculates the width based on content and available space. - Applies To: All elements except non-replaced inline elements, table rows, and row groups.
- Inherited: No.
- Percentages: Relative to the width of the containing block.
- Computed Value: Can be a percentage,
auto
, or an absolute length. - Animation Type: Can be animated using length, percentage, or
calc()
values.
Specifications
The width
property is defined by the CSS Box Sizing Module Level 4 and the CSS Sizing Module Level 4.
See Also
- [The box model]WebsiteUrl: Learn about the CSS box model.
- [
height
]WebsiteUrl: Explore theheight
property. - [
box-sizing
]WebsiteUrl: Understand howbox-sizing
affects the calculation of an element’s width and height. - [
min-width
]WebsiteUrl and [max-width
]WebsiteUrl: Set minimum and maximum width constraints. - [Mapped logical properties:
block-size
andinline-size
]WebsiteUrl: More flexible control of element dimensions. - [
anchor-size()
]WebsiteUrl: Set the size of an element relative to an anchor element.
These resources will help you use the width
property effectively to create responsive and visually appealing web designs.
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