CSS made easy - The Position Property
Position Property?
In CSS position property of an element signifies that where that element is going to be positioned in DOM(Document Object Model) based on it's value i.e. static, relative, absolute, fixed, sticky.
Values of CSS Positioning Properties
1. Static
Static
is the default position
that all of the HTML elements will have in the DOM when they are rendered in the page. Static position does not render the element in any special way, but just the way they should be. When the elements are positioned static, there's no effect of left, right, top and bottom property on the elements.
The below example does nothing but position the elements as static. If we do not set the position property as static, still the elements will be positioned as static by default.
2. Relative
When the position
property of an HTML element is set to relative
, It can be positioned relative to it's original place by setting top
, right
, left
and bottom
property.
For example, below I have set the first div
position as relative
and has set the top
and left
property to 20px
each. You can see the div
is shifted 20px from top as well as left from it's original place.
3. Absolute
In case of absolute
the HTML element is removed from the DOM and than it is positioned relative to it's nearest ancestor whose position
property is set to any value other than static
. If there is no ancestor whose position
is set relative
or absolute
or any other value other than static
then that HTML element is positioned relative to body and will move when scroll.
For example, Below I have positioned parent div
as relative
and first div
as absolute. You can see the first div
is positioned relative to it's nearest ancestor i.e parent div
.
4. Fixed
When the position
property of an HTML element is set to fixed
, it can be positioned relative to viewport. The element will be fixed at that position even when you scroll.
For example, Below I have set the first div
as fixed. It will not move from it's position even when you move.
5. Sticky
Sticky Position is a combination of fixed
and relative
. When the element whose position
is set to sticky
it will positioned itself relative until a given threshold value of position is met in the viewport - then it gets fixed in that place.
In the below example I have set top
equal to 10px
, as soon as the div reaches threshold value of top: 10px
while scrolling it gets fixed at that position.
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