Alignment of fixed width item in percentage based parent

Question

Alignment of fixed width item in percentage based parent

109 Views Asked by MrCarrot At 10 April 2025 at 15:33

At the moment I have an outer container with a maximum width of 1600 pixels, which can shrink below that based on screen width.

A have an inner container within the outer with a maximum width of 1200 pixels.

I have a flex box within the outer container, which has two children, one set at 60% width and the other at 40% width. I have a div within the 60% parent, whereby I don't want the left-hand edge to extend beyond the 1200 pixel container above.

The problem is, I cannot get the div within the 60% parent to align to the left of the 1,200 pixel container. It works when the screen width is above 1,600 pixels or below 1,200 pixels, but not in-between.

Here's an image to show what I'm trying to achieve:

I've come up with a solution using media queries, calc() and 100vw, however it's contrived and flakey namely because 100vw includes the scrollbar width.

Below is a code snippet of what I have so far (you'll need to run this in full screen mode, and resize your screen to get an idea of what is happening).

Is there a simple calculation or solution that I'm missing?

body {
        margin: 0;
        padding: 10px;
    }
    .outer {
        max-width: 1600px;
        margin: 0 auto;
        border: solid 1px green;
        color: green;
    }

    .inner {
        max-width: 1200px;
        margin: 0 auto 20px auto;
        border: solid 1px black;
        color: black;
    }

    .flex {
        display: flex;
        color: red;
    }

    .flex > div:first-child {
        width: 60%;
        border: solid 1px red;
        box-sizing: border-box;
    }

    .flex > div:last-child {
        width: 40%;
        border: solid 1px red;
        box-sizing: border-box;
    }

    .align {
        border: solid 1px blue;
        margin-left: auto;
        /* max-width: 757px;Doesn't work */

        color: blue;
    }

    @media screen and (min-width: 1220px) { /* Extra 20 pixels for body padding */
        .align {
            margin-left: calc((100vw - 1200px - 20px) / 2);
        }
    }

    @media screen and (min-width: 1620px) { /* Extra 20 pixels for body padding */
        .align {
            margin-left: 198px;
        }
    }

<body>
    <div class="outer">
        max width 1600px
        <div class="inner">max width 1200px</div>
        <div class="flex">
            <div>
                width 60%
                <div class="align">left edge to align with 1200px above</div>
            </div>
            <div>width 40%</div>
        </div>
    </div>
</body>

Original Q&A

There are 1 best solutions below

**Temani Afif** · Accepted Answer

You are almost good. Replace the 100vw with the container width which is in your case 100%/0.6 since the parent element is 60% (0.6*100%)

body {
  margin: 0;
  padding: 10px;
}

.outer {
  max-width: 1600px;
  margin: 0 auto;
  border: solid 1px green;
  color: green;
}

.inner {
  max-width: 1200px;
  margin: 0 auto 20px auto;
  border: solid 1px black;
  color: black;
}

.flex {
  display: flex;
  color: red;
}

.flex>div:first-child {
  width: 60%;
  border: solid 1px red;
}

.flex>div:last-child {
  width: 40%;
  border: solid 1px red;
}

.align {
  border: solid 1px blue;
  margin-left: auto;
  color: blue;
}

@media screen and (min-width: 1220px) {
  .align {
    margin-left: calc((100%/0.6 - 1200px) / 2);
  }
}

@media screen and (min-width: 1620px) {
  .align {
    margin-left: 200px;
  }
}

* {
  box-sizing:border-box;
}

<body>
  <div class="outer">
    max width 1600px
    <div class="inner">max width 1200px</div>
    <div class="flex">
      <div>
        width 60%
        <div class="align">left edge to align with 1200px above</div>
      </div>
      <div>width 40%</div>
    </div>
  </div>
</body>

A code that you can simplify like below using clamp()

body {
  margin: 0;
  padding: 10px;
}

.outer {
  max-width: 1600px;
  margin: 0 auto;
  border: solid 1px green;
  color: green;
}

.inner {
  max-width: 1200px;
  margin: 0 auto 20px auto;
  border: solid 1px black;
  color: black;
}

.flex {
  display: flex;
  color: red;
}

.flex>div:first-child {
  width: 60%;
  border: solid 1px red;
}

.flex>div:last-child {
  width: 40%;
  border: solid 1px red;
}

.align {
  border: solid 1px blue;
  margin-left: clamp(0px,(100%/0.6 - 1200px) / 2,200px);
  color: blue;
}



* {
  box-sizing:border-box;
}

<body>
  <div class="outer">
    max width 1600px
    <div class="inner">max width 1200px</div>
    <div class="flex">
      <div>
        width 60%
        <div class="align">left edge to align with 1200px above</div>
      </div>
      <div>width 40%</div>
    </div>
  </div>
</body>

Or using width/max-width:

body {
  margin: 0;
  padding: 10px;
}

.outer {
  max-width: 1600px;
  margin: 0 auto;
  border: solid 1px green;
  color: green;
}

.inner {
  max-width: 1200px;
  margin: 0 auto 20px auto;
  border: solid 1px black;
  color: black;
}

.flex {
  display: flex;
  color: red;
}

.flex>div:first-child {
  width: 60%;
  border: solid 1px red;
}

.flex>div:last-child {
  width: 40%;
  border: solid 1px red;
}

.align {
  border: solid 1px blue;
  max-width: 100%;
  margin-left: auto;
  width: calc(100% - ((100%/0.6 - 1200px) / 2));
  color: blue;
}



* {
  box-sizing:border-box;
}

<body>
  <div class="outer">
    max width 1600px
    <div class="inner">max width 1200px</div>
    <div class="flex">
      <div>
        width 60%
        <div class="align">left edge to align with 1200px above</div>
      </div>
      <div>width 40%</div>
    </div>
  </div>
</body>

And why not padding on the container. A good one line solution since padding is by default clamped to 0 (cannot be negative)

body {
  margin: 0;
  padding: 10px;
}

.outer {
  max-width: 1600px;
  margin: 0 auto;
  border: solid 1px green;
  color: green;
}

.inner {
  max-width: 1200px;
  margin: 0 auto 20px auto;
  border: solid 1px black;
  color: black;
}

.flex {
  display: flex;
  color: red;
}

.flex>div:first-child {
  width: 60%;
  border: solid 1px red;
  padding-left: calc((100% - 1200px) / 2);
}

.flex>div:last-child {
  width: 40%;
  border: solid 1px red;
}

.align {
  border: solid 1px blue;
  color: blue;
}



* {
  box-sizing:border-box;
}

<body>
  <div class="outer">
    max width 1600px
    <div class="inner">max width 1200px</div>
    <div class="flex">
      <div>
        width 60%
        <div class="align">left edge to align with 1200px above</div>
      </div>
      <div>width 40%</div>
    </div>
  </div>
</body>

Alignment of fixed width item in percentage based parent

There are 1 best solutions below

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