justify-items
Baseline Widely available
This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since September 2015.
The CSS justify-items
property defines the default justify-self
for all items of the box, giving them all a default way of justifying each box along the appropriate axis.
Try it
The effect of this property is dependent of the layout mode we are in:
- In block-level layouts, it aligns the items inside their containing block on the inline axis.
- For absolutely-positioned elements, it aligns the items inside their containing block on the inline axis, accounting for the offset values of top, left, bottom, and right.
- In table cell layouts, this property is ignored (more about alignment in block, absolute positioned and table layout)
- In flexbox layouts, this property is ignored (more about alignment in flexbox)
- In grid layouts, it aligns the items inside their grid areas on the inline axis (more about alignment in grid layouts)
Syntax
/* Basic keywords */
justify-items: normal;
justify-items: stretch;
/* Positional alignment */
justify-items: center; /* Pack items around the center */
justify-items: start; /* Pack items from the start */
justify-items: end; /* Pack items from the end */
justify-items: flex-start; /* Equivalent to 'start'. Note that justify-items is ignored in flexbox layouts. */
justify-items: flex-end; /* Equivalent to 'end'. Note that justify-items is ignored in flexbox layouts. */
justify-items: self-start;
justify-items: self-end;
justify-items: left; /* Pack items from the left */
justify-items: right; /* Pack items from the right */
justify-items: anchor-center;
/* Baseline alignment */
justify-items: baseline;
justify-items: first baseline;
justify-items: last baseline;
/* Overflow alignment (for positional alignment only) */
justify-items: safe center;
justify-items: unsafe center;
/* Legacy alignment */
justify-items: legacy right;
justify-items: legacy left;
justify-items: legacy center;
/* Global values */
justify-items: inherit;
justify-items: initial;
justify-items: revert;
justify-items: revert-layer;
justify-items: unset;
This property can take one of four different forms:
- Basic keywords: one of the keyword values
normal
orstretch
. - Baseline alignment: the
baseline
keyword, plus optionally one offirst
orlast
. - Positional alignment: one of:
center
,start
,end
,flex-start
,flex-end
,self-start
,self-end
,left
, orright
. Plus optionallysafe
orunsafe
. - Legacy alignment: the
legacy
keyword, followed by one ofleft
orright
.
Values
normal
-
The effect of this keyword is dependent of the layout mode we are in:
- In block-level layouts, the keyword is a synonym of
start
. - In absolutely-positioned layouts, the keyword behaved like
start
on replaced absolutely-positioned boxes, and asstretch
on all other absolutely-positioned boxes. - In table cell layouts, this keyword has no meaning as this property is ignored.
- In flexbox layouts, this keyword has no meaning as this property is ignored.
- In grid layouts, this keyword leads to a behavior similar to the one of
stretch
, except for boxes with an aspect ratio or an intrinsic sizes where it behaves likestart
.
- In block-level layouts, the keyword is a synonym of
start
-
The item is packed flush to each other toward the start edge of the alignment container in the appropriate axis.
end
-
The item is packed flush to each other toward the end edge of the alignment container in the appropriate axis.
flex-start
-
For items that are not children of a flex container, this value is treated like
start
. flex-end
-
For items that are not children of a flex container, this value is treated like
end
. self-start
-
The item is packed flush to the edge of the alignment container of the start side of the item, in the appropriate axis.
self-end
-
The item is packed flush to the edge of the alignment container of the end side of the item, in the appropriate axis.
center
-
The items are packed flush to each other toward the center of the alignment container.
left
-
The items are packed flush to each other toward the left edge of the alignment container. If the property's axis is not parallel with the inline axis, this value behaves like
start
. right
-
The items are packed flush to each other toward the right edge of the alignment container in the appropriate axis. If the property's axis is not parallel with the inline axis, this value behaves like
start
. baseline
,first baseline
,last baseline
-
Specifies participation in first- or last-baseline alignment: aligns the alignment baseline of the box's first or last baseline set with the corresponding baseline in the shared first or last baseline set of all the boxes in its baseline-sharing group. The fallback alignment for
first baseline
isstart
, the one forlast baseline
isend
. stretch
-
If the combined size of the items is less than the size of the alignment container, any
auto
-sized items have their size increased equally (not proportionally), while still respecting the constraints imposed bymax-height
/max-width
(or equivalent functionality), so that the combined size exactly fills the alignment container. anchor-center
-
In the case of anchor-positioned elements, aligns the items to the center of the associated anchor element in the inline direction. See Centering on the anchor using
anchor-center
. safe
-
If the size of the item overflows the alignment container, the item is instead aligned as if the alignment mode were
start
. unsafe
-
Regardless of the relative sizes of the item and alignment container, the given alignment value is honored.
legacy
-
Makes the value inherited by the box descendants. Note that if a descendant has a
justify-self: auto
value, thelegacy
keyword is not considered by the descend, only theleft
,right
, orcenter
value associated to it.
Formal definition
Initial value | legacy |
---|---|
Applies to | all elements |
Inherited | no |
Computed value | as specified |
Animation type | discrete |
Formal syntax
justify-items =
normal |
stretch |
<baseline-position> |
<overflow-position>? [ <self-position> | left | right ] |
legacy |
legacy && [ left | right | center ] |
anchor-center
<baseline-position> =
[ first | last ]? &&
baseline
<overflow-position> =
unsafe |
safe
<self-position> =
center |
start |
end |
self-start |
self-end |
flex-start |
flex-end
Examples
Basic demonstration
In the following example, we have a simple 2 x 2 grid layout. Initially the grid container is given a justify-items
value of stretch
(the default), which causes the grid items to stretch across the entire width of their cells.
If you hover or tab onto the grid container however, it is given a justify-items
value of center
, which causes the grid items to span only as wide as their content width, and align in the center of their cells.
HTML
<article class="container" tabindex="0">
<span>First child</span>
<span>Second child</span>
<span>Third child</span>
<span>Fourth child</span>
</article>
CSS
html {
font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;
letter-spacing: 1px;
}
article {
background-color: red;
display: grid;
grid-template-columns: 1fr 1fr;
grid-auto-rows: 40px;
grid-gap: 10px;
margin: 20px;
width: 300px;
justify-items: stretch;
}
article:hover,
article:focus {
justify-items: center;
}
article span {
background-color: black;
color: white;
margin: 1px;
text-align: center;
}
article,
span {
padding: 10px;
border-radius: 7px;
}
Result
Specifications
Specification |
---|
CSS Box Alignment Module Level 3 # justify-items-property |
Browser compatibility
BCD tables only load in the browser
See also
justify-self
align-items
place-items
shorthand- Box alignment in CSS grid layouts
- CSS box alignment module