CSS vertical-align Property

Introduction

vertical-align defines the vertical alignment for the content of a table cell or for an inline element against the rest of the inline flow.

vertical-align can take a % or length value, or it can take one of the following 8 keywords:

• baseline: The default. Baseline of the element aligned to the baseline of the parent.
• bottom: Bottom of the element aligned to the complete bottom of the line.
• middle: Middle of the element aligned to half the x-height of the parent. The x-height is the height of the text without the character ascenders or descenders.
• sub: Baseline of the element aligned to the subscript baseline of the parent.
• super: Baseline of the element aligned to the superscript baseline of the parent.
• text-bottom: Bottom of the element aligned to the bottom of the text.
• text-top: Top of the element aligned to the top of the text.
• top: Top of the element aligned to the top of the line.

If a length value is provided, the element is aligned at the specified length above the baseline of the parent.

If a % value is provided, the element is aligned at the specified % above the baseline of the parent, with the % being a reference to the line-height.

Here’s an example using vertical-align:

.avatar {
  vertical-align: middle;
}

Examples

It can be hard to visualize the effects of the different keyword values for vertical-align, so here are examples with an inline seashell emoji (🐚) placed with different values:

vertical-align: baseline

Sammy sells seashells 🐚 by the seashore.

vertical-align: bottom

Sammy sells seashells 🐚 by the seashore.

vertical-align: middle

Sammy sells seashells 🐚 by the seashore.

vertical-align: sub

Sammy sells seashells 🐚 by the seashore.

vertical-align: super

Sammy sells seashells 🐚 by the seashore.

vertical-align: text-bottom

Sammy sells seashells 🐚 by the seashore.

vertical-align: text-top

Sammy sells seashells 🐚 by the seashore.

vertical-align: top

Sammy sells seashells 🐚 by the seashore.