Understanding CSS Positioning Methods

CSS Web Development Front End Technology

For positioning elements, CSS has the following positioning methods −

Relative Positioning in CSS

With relative positioning, the element is positioned relative to its normal position. For this, use position: relative.

Example

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
div.demo {
   position: relative;
   color: white;
   background-color: orange;
   border: 2px dashed blue;
   left: 50px;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h2>Demo Heading</h2>
<p>This is demo text.</p>
<p>This is demo text.</p>
<div class="demo">
position: relative;
</div>
<p>This is another demo text.</p>
</body>
</html>

Output

Absolute Positioning in CSS

With absolute positioning, an element is positioned relative to the nearest positioned ancestor.

Example

Live Demo

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
div.demo1 {
   position: relative;
   color: white;
   background-color: orange;
   border: 2px dashed blue;
   width: 600px;
   height: 200px;
}
div.demo2 {
   position: absolute;
   color: white;
   background-color: orange;
   border: 2px dashed blue;
   top: 50px;
   right: 0;
   width: 300px;
   height: 100px;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h2>Demo Heading</h2>
<p>This is demo text.</p>
<p>This is demo text.</p>
<p>This is demo text.</p>
<p>This is demo text.</p>
<div class="demo1">position: relative;
<div class="demo2">
position: absolute;
</div>
</div>
<p>This is another demo text.</p>
<p>This is demo text.</p>
<p>This is demo text.</p>
</body>
</html>

Output

Fixed Positioning in CSS

An element set with position: fixed; remains at the same place even when the page is scrolled.

Example

Live Demo

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
div.demo1 {
   position: relative;
   color: white;
   background-color: orange;
   border: 2px dashed blue;
   width: 600px;
   height: 200px;
}
div.demo2 {
   position: absolute;
   color: white;
   background-color: orange;
   border: 2px dashed blue;
   top: 50px;
   right: 0;
   width: 300px;
   height: 100px;
}
div.demo3 {
   position: fixed;
   bottom: 0;
   right: 20px;
   width: 500px;
   border: 3px solid orange;
   color: blue;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h2>Demo Heading</h2>
<p>This is demo text.</p>
<p>This is demo text.</p>
<p>This is demo text.</p>
<p>This is demo text.</p>
<div class="demo1">position: relative;
<div class="demo2">
position: absolute;
</div>
<div class="demo3">
position: fixed;
</div>
</div>
<p>This is another demo text.</p>
</body>
</html>