Why Does Vertical-Align Work Differently with Inline Elements?

Understanding the Vertical-Align Property

Vertical alignment in CSS poses challenges when working with inline elements due to certain conditions and exceptions.

Applying Vertical-Align

Vertical-align applies to inline elements within an inline or block container that has a specified height. Setting the height to a static value (not auto or %) is recommended.

Positioning within Inline Elements

Within inline elements, vertical-align adjusts the alignment of the element's text or content vertically. This is different from text-align, which aligns text horizontally within a block element.

JSFiddle Example

In the provided JSFiddle, #header should be centered vertically between #outer and #inner. However, #header is positioned at the top of #inner. This is because #inner is an inline element, but #header is not.

Line-Box Alignment

Vertical-align aligns elements based on their line boxes. These boxes are created based on the individual lines of text or content. Therefore, if there are multiple lines, vertical-align will align on the respective line-boxes, creating the unexpected result where the element's alignment is not consistent across the height of the container.

Additional Considerations

• Modern browsers handle vertical-align correctly for elements that are not naturally inline elements.
• You may need to wrap the element you want to vertically align in an inline element.
• Consider adding a line-height to elements that do not normally have one.
• If you want to center an element vertically within the entire height of a container, you may need to resort to alternative methods such as flexbox or a table.

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