How to vertically center content with variable height within a div?

Question

What is the best way to vertically center the content of a div when the height of the content is variable. In my particular case, the height of the container div is fixed, but it would be great if there were a solution that would work in cases where the container has a variable height as well. Also, I would love a solution with no, or very little use of CSS hacks and/or non-semantic markup.

Answer 1

This seems to be the best solution I’ve found to this problem, as long as your browser supports the ::before pseudo element: CSS-Tricks: Centering in the Unknown.

It doesn’t require any extra markup and seems to work extremely well. I couldn’t use the display: table method because table elements don’t obey the max-height property.

.block {
  height: 300px;
  text-align: center;
  background: #c0c0c0;
  border: #a0a0a0 solid 1px;
  margin: 20px;
}

.block::before {
  content: '';
  display: inline-block;
  height: 100%; 
  vertical-align: middle;
  margin-right: -0.25em; /* Adjusts for spacing */

  /* For visualization 
  background: #808080; width: 5px;
  */
}

.centered {
  display: inline-block;
  vertical-align: middle;
  width: 300px;
  padding: 10px 15px;
  border: #a0a0a0 solid 1px;
  background: #f5f5f5;
}

<div class="block">
    <div class="centered">
        <h1>Some text</h1>
        <p>But he stole up to us again, and suddenly clapping his hand on my
           shoulder, said&mdash;"Did ye see anything looking like men going
           towards that ship a while ago?"</p>
    </div>
</div>