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Positioning

Positioning allows you to move an element from where it would be placed when in normal flow to another location.

Positioning isn’t a method for creating your main page layouts, it is more about managing and fine-tuning the position of specific items on the page.

There are however useful techniques for certain layout patterns that rely on the position property. Understanding positioning also helps in understanding normal flow and what it is to move an item out of the normal flow.

There are five types of positioning you should know about:

Static positioningThe default that every element gets — just means "put the element into its normal position in the document layout flow — nothing special to see here."
Relative positioningAllows you to modify an element's position on the page, moving it relative to its position in normal flow — including making it overlap other elements on the page.
Absolute positioningMoves an element completely out of the page's normal layout flow, like it is sitting on a separate layer on its own. From there, you can fix it in a position relative to the edges of the page's html element (or its nearest positioned ancestor element). This is useful for creating complex layout effects such as tabbed boxes where different content panels sit on top of one another and are shown and hidden as desired, or information panels that sit off-screen by default but can be made to slide on screen using a control button.
Fixed positioningVery similar to absolute positioning, except that it fixes an element relative to the browser viewport, not another element. This is useful for creating effects such as a persistent navigation menu that always stays in the same place on the screen as the rest of the content scrolls.
Sticky positioningThis is a newer positioning method that makes an element act like position: static until it hits a defined offset from the viewport, at which point it acts like position: fixed.

Simple example

To provide familiarity with these page layout techniques, we'll show you a couple of quick examples. Our examples will all feature the same HTML, which is as follows.


<h1>Positioning</h1>

<p>I am a basic block level element.</p>
<p class="positioned">I am a basic block level element.</p>
<p>I am a basic block level element.</p>

body {
  width: 500px;
  margin: 0 auto;
}

p {
    background-color: rgb(207,232,220);
    border: 2px solid rgb(79,185,227);
    padding: 10px;
    margin: 10px;
    border-radius: 5px;
}

Relative positioning

Relative positioning allows you to offset an item from the position in normal flow it would have by default. This means you could achieve a task such as moving an icon down a bit so it lines up with a text label.

To do this, we could add the following rule to add relative positioning.

Here we give our middle paragraph a position value of relative — this doesn't do anything on its own, so we also add top and left properties. These serve to move the affected element down and to the right — this might seem like the opposite of what you were expecting, but you need to think of it as the element being pushed on its left and top sides, which results in it moving right and down.

We will also give it a different background and border to make it stand out.

Try changing the values for top and left -- also try removing them and using values for bottom and right -- See how those change the positioning of the element.


<h1>Positioning</h1>

<p>I am a basic block level element.</p>
<p class="positioned">I am a basic block level element.</p>
<p>I am a basic block level element.</p>


body {
  width: 500px;
  margin: 0 auto;
}

p {
    background-color: rgb(207,232,220);
    border: 2px solid rgb(79,185,227);
    padding: 10px;
    margin: 10px;
    border-radius: 5px;
}

.positioned {
  position: relative;
  background: rgba(255,84,104,.3);
  border: 2px solid rgb(255,84,104);
  top: 30px;
  left: 30px;
}


Absolute positioning

Absolute positioning is used to completely remove an element from the normal flow and place it using offsets from the edges of a containing block.

We could add the following CSS rule to implement absolute positioning.

This is very different! The positioned element has now been completely separated from the rest of the page layout and sits over the top of it. The other two paragraphs now sit together as if their positioned sibling doesn't exist. The top and left properties have a different effect on absolutely positioned elements than they do on relatively positioned elements. In this case, the offsets have been calculated from the top and left of the page. It is possible to change the parent element that becomes this container, and we will take a look at that later.


<h1>Positioning</h1>

<p>I am a basic block level element.</p>
<p class="positioned">I am a basic block level element.</p>
<p>I am a basic block level element.</p>


body {
  width: 500px;
  margin: 0 auto;
}

p {
    background-color: rgb(207,232,220);
    border: 2px solid rgb(79,185,227);
    padding: 10px;
    margin: 10px;
    border-radius: 5px;
}

.positioned {
    position: absolute;
    background: rgba(255,84,104,.3);
    border: 2px solid rgb(255,84,104);
    top: 30px;
    left: 30px;
}


Fixed positioning

Fixed positioning removes our element from document flow in the same way as absolute positioning. However, instead of the offsets being applied from the container, they are applied from the viewport. As the item remains fixed in relation to the viewport, we can create effects such as a menu that remains fixed as the page scrolls beneath it.

For this example, our HTML is three paragraphs of text so that we can cause the page to scroll and a box to which we will give position: fixed.


<h1>Fixed positioning</h1>

<div class="positioned">Fixed</div>

<p> Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla luctus aliquam dolor, eu lacinia lorem placerat vulputate. Duis felis orci, pulvinar id metus ut, rutrum luctus orci. Cras porttitor imperdiet nunc, at ultricies tellus laoreet sit amet. Sed auctor cursus massa at porta. Integer ligula ipsum, tristique sit amet orci vel, viverra egestas ligula. Curabitur vehicula tellus neque, ac ornare ex malesuada et. In vitae convallis lacus. Aliquam erat volutpat. Suspendisse ac imperdiet turpis. Aenean finibus sollicitudin eros pharetra congue. Duis ornare egestas augue ut luctus. Proin blandit quam nec lacus varius commodo et a urna. Ut id ornare felis, eget fermentum sapien.</p>

<p>Nam vulputate diam nec tempor bibendum. Donec luctus augue eget malesuada ultrices. Phasellus turpis est, posuere sit amet dapibus ut, facilisis sed est. Nam id risus quis ante semper consectetur eget aliquam lorem. Vivamus tristique elit dolor, sed pretium metus suscipit vel. Mauris ultricies lectus sed lobortis finibus. Vivamus eu urna eget velit cursus viverra quis vestibulum sem. Aliquam tincidunt eget purus in interdum. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus.</p>

<p> Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla luctus aliquam dolor, eu lacinia lorem placerat vulputate. Duis felis orci, pulvinar id metus ut, rutrum luctus orci. Cras porttitor imperdiet nunc, at ultricies tellus laoreet sit amet. Sed auctor cursus massa at porta. Integer ligula ipsum, tristique sit amet orci vel, viverra egestas ligula. Curabitur vehicula tellus neque, ac ornare ex malesuada et. In vitae convallis lacus. Aliquam erat volutpat. Suspendisse ac imperdiet turpis. Aenean finibus sollicitudin eros pharetra congue. Duis ornare egestas augue ut luctus. Proin blandit quam nec lacus varius commodo et a urna. Ut id ornare felis, eget fermentum sapien.</p>

.positioned { 
    background: rgba(255,84,104,.3); 
    border: 2px solid rgb(255,84,104); 
    padding: 10px; 
    margin: 10px; 
    border-radius: 5px; 
}

.positioned {
    position: fixed;
    top: 30px;
    left: 30px;
}

Sticky positioning

Sticky positioning is the final positioning method that we have at our disposal. It mixes the default static positioning with fixed positioning. When an item has position: sticky, it will scroll in normal flow until it hits offsets from the viewport that we have defined. At that point, it becomes "stuck" as if it had position: fixed applied.



<h1>Sticky positioning</h1>
    
<p> Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla luctus aliquam dolor, eu lacinia lorem placerat vulputate. Duis felis orci, pulvinar id metus ut, rutrum luctus orci. Cras porttitor imperdiet nunc, at ultricies tellus laoreet sit amet. Sed auctor cursus massa at porta. Integer ligula ipsum, tristique sit amet orci vel, viverra egestas ligula. Curabitur vehicula tellus neque, ac ornare ex malesuada et. In vitae convallis lacus. Aliquam erat volutpat. Suspendisse ac imperdiet turpis. Aenean finibus sollicitudin eros pharetra congue. Duis ornare egestas augue ut luctus. Proin blandit quam nec lacus varius commodo et a urna. Ut id ornare felis, eget fermentum sapien.</p>

<div class="positioned">Sticky</div>
    
<p>Nam vulputate diam nec tempor bibendum. Donec luctus augue eget malesuada ultrices. Phasellus turpis est, posuere sit amet dapibus ut, facilisis sed est. Nam id risus quis ante semper consectetur eget aliquam lorem. Vivamus tristique elit dolor, sed pretium metus suscipit vel. Mauris ultricies lectus sed lobortis finibus. Vivamus eu urna eget velit cursus viverra quis vestibulum sem. Aliquam tincidunt eget purus in interdum. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus.</p>
    
<p> Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla luctus aliquam dolor, eu lacinia lorem placerat vulputate. Duis felis orci, pulvinar id metus ut, rutrum luctus orci. Cras porttitor imperdiet nunc, at ultricies tellus laoreet sit amet. Sed auctor cursus massa at porta. Integer ligula ipsum, tristique sit amet orci vel, viverra egestas ligula. Curabitur vehicula tellus neque, ac ornare ex malesuada et. In vitae convallis lacus. Aliquam erat volutpat. Suspendisse ac imperdiet turpis. Aenean finibus sollicitudin eros pharetra congue. Duis ornare egestas augue ut luctus. Proin blandit quam nec lacus varius commodo et a urna. Ut id ornare felis, eget fermentum sapien.</p>       

<p> Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla luctus aliquam dolor, eu lacinia lorem placerat vulputate. Duis felis orci, pulvinar id metus ut, rutrum luctus orci. Cras porttitor imperdiet nunc, at ultricies tellus laoreet sit amet. Sed auctor cursus massa at porta. Integer ligula ipsum, tristique sit amet orci vel, viverra egestas ligula. Curabitur vehicula tellus neque, ac ornare ex malesuada et. In vitae convallis lacus. Aliquam erat volutpat. Suspendisse ac imperdiet turpis. Aenean finibus sollicitudin eros pharetra congue. Duis ornare egestas augue ut luctus. Proin blandit quam nec lacus varius commodo et a urna. Ut id ornare felis, eget fermentum sapien.</p>       

.positioned { 
  background: rgba(255,84,104,.3); 
  border: 2px solid rgb(255,84,104); 
  padding: 10px; 
  margin: 10px; 
  border-radius: 5px; 
}

.positioned {
  position: sticky;
  top: 30px;
  left: 30px;
}
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