Understanding CSS Position

The position property specifies the type of positioning method used for an element (static, relative, fixed, absolute or sticky) . Also the position CSS property sets how an element is positioned in a document. The top, right, bottom, and left properties determine the final location of positioned elements.

What is the default position of HTML elements in CSS?

By default, the position property for all HTML elements in CSS is set to static. This means that if you don't specify any other position value or if the position property is not declared explicitly, it'll be static.

Visually, all elements follow the order of the HTML code, and in that way the typical document flow is created. Elements appear one after the other – directly below one another, according to the order of the HMTL code.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css">
    <title>CSS Positioning</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <div class="parent">
      <div class="child one">One</div>
      <div class="child two">Two</div>
      <div class="child three">Three</div>
      <div class="child four">Four</div>
    </div>
  </body>
</html>

<style>
body {
  margin: 100px auto;
}

.parent {
  width: 500px;
  border: 1px solid red;
  margin: auto;
  text-align: center;
}

.child {
  border-radius: 10%;
  width: 100px;
  height: 100px;
  margin: 20px;
}

.one {
  background-color: powderblue;
}

.two {
  background-color: royalblue;
}

.three {
  background-color: sienna;
}

.four {
  background-color: slateblue;
}
</style>

The position property isn't declared in the above code and it therefore reverts to the default position: static. It follows the order of the HTML code.

position: static;

HTML elements are positioned static by default.

Static positioned elements are not affected by the top, bottom, left, and right properties.

An element with position: static; is not positioned in any special way; it is always positioned according to the normal flow of the page:

div.static {
  position: static;
  border: 3px solid #73AD21;
}

position: relative;

An element with position: relative; is positioned relative to its normal position.

Setting the top, right, bottom, and left properties of a relatively-positioned element will cause it to be adjusted away from its normal position. Other content will not be adjusted to fit into any gap left by the element.

div.relative {
  position: relative;
  left: 30px;
  border: 3px solid #73AD21;
}

position: fixed;

An element with position: fixed; is positioned relative to the viewport, which means it always stays in the same place even if the page is scrolled. The top, right, bottom, and left properties are used to position the element.

A fixed element does not leave a gap in the page where it would normally have been located.

div.fixed {
  position: fixed;
  bottom: 0;
  right: 0;
  width: 300px;
  border: 3px solid #73AD21;
}

position: absolute;

An element with position: absolute; is positioned relative to the nearest positioned ancestor (instead of positioned relative to the viewport, like fixed).

However; if an absolute positioned element has no positioned ancestors, it uses the document body, and moves along with page scrolling.

Note: Absolute positioned elements are removed from the normal flow, and can overlap elements.

div.relative {
  position: relative;
  width: 400px;
  height: 200px;
  border: 3px solid #73AD21;
}

div.absolute {
  position: absolute;
  top: 80px;
  right: 0;
  width: 200px;
  height: 100px;
  border: 3px solid #73AD21;
}

position: sticky; An element with position: sticky; is positioned based on the user's scroll position.

A sticky element toggles between relative and fixed, depending on the scroll position. It is positioned relative until a given offset position is met in the viewport - then it "sticks" in place (like position:fixed).

div.sticky {
  position: -webkit-sticky; /* Safari */
  position: sticky;
  top: 0;
  background-color: green;
  border: 2px solid #4CAF50;
}

Understanding CSS Position

CSS Position in detail