Flex and Justify-Content vs. Text-Align: When Should I Use Which?

flex and justify-content vs. text-align: What's the Difference?

While both "flex" and "justify-content" can be used to align content within a parent element, they have distinct functionalities and use cases.

text-align:

• Primarily aligns inline-level elements (e.g., text) within a block-level container.
• Works by adjusting the position of the text within its containing block.
• Does not affect the overall layout or size of the parent element.

flex:

• Enables advanced layout control for both block-level and inline-level elements.
• Introduces a new "flex container" that controls the layout of its children.
• Provides the "justify-content" property to align child elements along the main axis of the flex container.

Use Case Considerations:

• When aligning a single element (e.g., a button), "text-align" and "flex" may appear equivalent.
• However, for multiple elements within a container, flexbox offers more flexibility and control.

Bootstrap's Shift from text-align to flex:

Bootstrap migrated to using flex for aligning buttons in modal footers because it allowed for greater control over the layout:

• Flexbox enabled the arrangement of multiple buttons in a row within the footer.
• It also provided better responsiveness on different screen sizes.

Example:

Consider the following code:

<div class="parent-flex">
  some text here
  <button>Awesome button!</button>
</div>

<div class="parent-normal">
  some text here
  <button>Awesome button!</button>
</div>

• In the "parent-flex" case, the text and button will be laid out horizontally with the button aligned to the right end of the container.
• In the "parent-normal" case, the text and button will be aligned right, but the container's width will be adjusted to fit the elements.

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