CSS display: inline-block does not accept margin-top?

69
votes

I have an element with display: inline-block, but it doesn't seem to accept margin-top. Is this because the element is still treated as an inline element?

If yes, does anyone have a workaround?

EDIT #1:

My CSS is quite simple:

.label {
  background: #ffffff;
  display: inline-block;
  margin-top: -2px;
  padding: 7px 7px 5px;
}

I ended up wrapping the content in another div and giving that a margin-top. But that causes a lot of extra markup and makes my code less clear.

EDIT #2:

margin-top & margin-bottom on inline-block elements only seems to work with positive values.

4
csspositionlabelmargin
sure it does, post the markup and css you're having trouble if you want our help – bevacqua
No and to help further we would need to see your code. Here's a helpful link though blog.mozilla.com/webdev/2009/02/20/cross-browser-inline-block – CBRRacer
i have several layouts with inline-block elements positioned using margins, even margin-top – Einacio

4 Answers

95
votes

you can also try replacing the negative margin with

.label{
    position:relative;
    top:-2px;
}

in addition to the rest of your .label style

28
votes

I used display: table. It has the content-fitting properties of inline-block but also supports negative margins in a way that will shift the content following it up along with it. Probably not how you should be using it, but it works.

.label {
  background: #ffffff;
  display: table;
  margin-top: -2px;
  padding: 7px 7px 5px;
}
20
votes

You can try vertical-align like this:

.label {
  background: #ffffff;
  display: inline-block;
  margin-top: -2px;
  vertical-align: 2px;
  padding: 7px 7px 5px;
}

I made an example on jsfiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/zmmbreeze/X6BjK/.
But vertical-align not work well on IE6/7. And there is a opera(11.64) rendering bug.

So I recommend to use position:relative instead.

9
votes

That is indeed the case. Instead of a margin, you could use a padding. Another solution would be to use a container div for the element. You make that div inline-block, and make your current element a block inside that container. Then, you can give a margin to your element.

It would help if you got a concrete example, preferably in jsfiddle.net or so. It would help answers to be more specific too, instead of containing just general descriptions like mine here. ;)