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How To Specify (X)HTML Element Padding
This tutorial shows you how to specify the padding of all 4 sides of an (X)HTML element with CSS.
A margin is the space outside of an (X)HTML element, which is outside of the border, inside of the border is the padding, which is the space in between the border and an (X)HTML element.
You can specify the padding on all 4 sides in one declaration using the shorthand padding property, you can set the padding of all 4 sides individually in one declaration using a shorthand, you can use a shorthand property to declare the top and bottom padding together and also the right and left padding together or you can specify an individual side using one padding-top, padding-right, padding-bottom or padding-left.
All padding properties allows for the use of any length value that is supported by CSS (em, pixel, centimeter, etc.) and any percentage values.
The code below shows you how to specify the padding of all 4 sides of an element with CSS.
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
<title>WebDevelopmentTutorials.com</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="" media="screen,projection" />
<style type="text/css">
p
{
padding: 0;
border: 1px solid #000;
}
p.all
{
padding: 10px;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<p>
This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0".
This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0".
</p>
<p class="all">
This is a paragraph with a padding of "10px" applied to each side.
This is a paragraph with a padding of "10px" applied to each side.
This is a paragraph with a padding of "10px" applied to each side.
</p>
<p>
This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0".
This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0".
</p>
</body>
</html>
The code above produces the paragraphs below.
This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0".
This is a paragraph with a padding of "10px" applied to each side. This is a paragraph with a padding of "10px" applied to each side. This is a paragraph with a padding of "10px" applied to each side.
This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0".
All 4 Sides individually in one Declaration
The code below shows how to specify the padding of all 4 sides individually in one declaration using a shorthand, with the values specifying the sides clockwise: top, right, bottom and then left.
The fist value is this example "200px", specifies the padding for the top padding, the second value for this example "100px", specifies the padding for the right padding, the third value for this example "50px", specifies the bottom padding and the last value "10px", specifies the left padding of the (X)HTML element.
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
<title>WebDevelopmentTutorials.com</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="" media="screen,projection" />
<style type="text/css">
p
{
padding: 0;
border: 1px solid #000;
}
p.all4
{
padding: 200px 100px 50px 10px;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<p>
This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0".
This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0".
</p>
<p class="all4">
This paragraph has a top padding of "200px", a right padding of "100px", a bottom padding of "50px" and a
left padding of "10px".
This paragraph has a top padding of "200px", a right padding of "100px", a bottom padding of "50px" and a
left padding of "10px".
</p>
<p>
This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0".
This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0".
</p>
</body>
</html>
This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0".
This paragraph has a top padding of "200px", a right padding of "100px", a bottom padding of "50px" and a left padding of "10px". This paragraph has a top padding of "200px", a right padding of "100px", a bottom padding of "50px" and a left padding of "10px".
This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0".
Top/Bottom and Right/Left Shorthand Declaration
The code below shows how to use a shorthand property to declare the top and bottom padding together and also the right and left padding together.
The first value in this example "50px", sets the padding for both the top and the bottom sides of the (X)HTML element and the second value in this example "10px", sets the padding for both the right and left sides of the (X)HTML element.
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
<title>WebDevelopmentTutorials.com</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="" media="screen,projection" />
<style type="text/css">
p
{
padding: 0;
border: 1px solid #000;
}
p.both
{
padding: 50px 10px;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<p>
This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0".
This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0".
</p>
<p class="both">
This is a paragraph with a top and bottom padding of "50px" and a right and left padding of "10px".
This is a paragraph with a top and bottom padding of "50px" and a right and left padding of "10px".
This is a paragraph with a top and bottom padding of "50px" and a right and left padding of "10px".
</p>
<p>
This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0".
This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0".
</p>
</body>
</html>
This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0".
This is a paragraph with a top and bottom padding of "50px" and a right and left padding of "10px". This is a paragraph with a top and bottom padding of "50px" and a right and left padding of "10px". This is a paragraph with a top and bottom padding of "50px" and a right and left padding of "10px".
This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0".
How to set the Top Padding
The code below shows you how to set the top padding of an (X)HTML element using the padding-top property.
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
<title>WebDevelopmentTutorials.com</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="" media="screen,projection" />
<style type="text/css">
p
{
padding: 0;
border: 1px solid #000;
}
p.top
{
padding-top: 50px;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<p>
This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0".
This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0".
</p>
<p class="top">
This is a paragraph with a top padding of "50px". This is a paragraph with a top padding of "50px".
This is a paragraph with a top padding of "50px". This is a paragraph with a top padding of "50px".
</p>
<p>
This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0".
This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0".
</p>
</body>
</html>
This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0".
This is a paragraph with a top padding of "50px". This is a paragraph with a top padding of "50px". This is a paragraph with a top padding of "50px". This is a paragraph with a top padding of "50px".
This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0".
How to set the Right Padding
The code below shows you how to set the right padding of an (X)HTML element using the padding-right property.
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
<title>WebDevelopmentTutorials.com</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="" media="screen,projection" />
<style type="text/css">
p
{
padding: 0;
border: 1px solid #000;
}
p.right
{
padding-right: 50px;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<p>
This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0".
This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0".
</p>
<p class="right">
This is a paragraph with a right padding of "50px". This is a paragraph with a right padding of "50px".
This is a paragraph with a right padding of "50px". This is a paragraph with a right padding of "50px".
</p>
<p>
This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0".
This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0".
</p>
</body>
</html>
This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0".
This is a paragraph with a right padding of "50px". This is a paragraph with a right padding of "50px". This is a paragraph with a right padding of "50px". This is a paragraph with a right padding of "50px".
This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0".
How to set the Bottom Padding
The code below shows you how to set the bottom padding of an (X)HTML element using the padding-bottom property.
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
<title>WebDevelopmentTutorials.com</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="" media="screen,projection" />
<style type="text/css">
p
{
padding: 0;
border: 1px solid #000;
}
p.bottom
{
padding-bottom: 50px;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<p>
This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0".
This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0".
</p>
<p class="bottom">
This is a paragraph with a bottom padding of "50px". This is a paragraph with a bottom padding of "50px".
This is a paragraph with a bottom padding of "50px". This is a paragraph with a bottom padding of "50px".
</p>
<p>
This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0".
This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0".
</p>
</body>
</html>
This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0".
This is a paragraph with a bottom padding of "50px". This is a paragraph with a bottom padding of "50px". This is a paragraph with a bottom padding of "50px". This is a paragraph with a bottom padding of "50px".
This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0".
How to set the Left Padding
The code below shows you how to set the left padding of an (X)HTML element using the padding-left property.
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
<title>WebDevelopmentTutorials.com</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="" media="screen,projection" />
<style type="text/css">
p
{
padding: 0;
border: 1px solid #000;
}
p.left
{
padding-left: 50px;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<p>
This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0".
This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0".
</p>
<p class="left">
This is a paragraph with a left padding of "50px". This is a paragraph with a left padding of "50px".
This is a paragraph with a left padding of "50px". This is a paragraph with a left padding of "50px".
</p>
<p>
This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0".
This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0".
</p>
</body>
</html>
This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0".
This is a paragraph with a left padding of "50px". This is a paragraph with a left padding of "50px". This is a paragraph with a left padding of "50px". This is a paragraph with a left padding of "50px".
This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0". This is a paragraph with a padding of "0".