The max-width Property in CSS

CSS Web Development Front End Technology

We can define a fixed max-width for an element’s content box using CSS max-width property which does not allows the element’s content box to be wider even if width is greater than max-width.

Syntax

The syntax of CSS max-width property is as follows −

Selector {
   max-width: /*value*/
}

Let’s see an example for CSS max-width property −

Example

Live Demo

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>CSS max-width Property</title>
</head>
<style>
* {
   padding: 2px;
   margin:5px;
}
button {
   border-radius: 10px;
}
#containerDiv {
   width:70%;
   margin: 0 auto;
   padding:20px;
   background-image: linear-gradient(135deg, #dc3545 0%, #9599E2 100%);
   text-align: center;
   border-radius: 10px;
}
#contentDiv{
   max-width:200px;
   overflow: hidden;
}
</style>
<body>
<div id="containerDiv">
<div id="contentDiv">
This is paragraph 1 with some dummy text. This is paragraph 1 with some dummy text. This is paragraph 1 with some dummy text. This is paragraph 1 with some dummy text. This is paragraph 1 with some dummy text. This is paragraph 1 with some dummy text.
</div>
<button onclick="add()" class="btn">Set maxWidth</button>
</div>
<script>
function add() {
   document.querySelector('#contentDiv').style.maxWidth = "100%";
}
</script>
</body>
</html>

Output

Before clicking ‘Set maxWidth’ button −

After clicking ‘Set maxWidth’ button −

Let’s see another example for the CSS max-width property −

Example

Live Demo

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>CSS max-width Property</title>
</head>
<style>
* {
   padding: 2px;
   margin:5px;
}
button {
   border-radius: 10px;
}
#containerDiv {
   width:70%;
   margin: 0 auto;
   padding:20px;
   background-image: linear-gradient(135deg, #dc3545 0%, #9599E2 100%);
   text-align: center;
   border-radius: 10px;
}
#contentDiv1, #contentDiv2{
   width:100%;
   border: 1px solid black;
   margin: 0 auto;
}
#contentDiv2{
   width: 80%;
}
</style>
<body>
<div id="containerDiv">
<div id="contentDiv1">
This is paragraph 1 with some dummy text. This is paragraph 1 with some dummy text.
</div>
<div id="contentDiv2">
This is paragraph 1 with some dummy text. This is paragraph 1 with some dummy text. This is paragraph 1 with some dummy.
</div>
<button onclick="add()" class="btn">Set maxWidth</button>
</div>
<script>
function add() {
   document.querySelector('#contentDiv1').style.maxWidth = "80%";
}
</script></body></html>