CSS vertical align inside a FIXED position div

Question

I have a header: FIXED position.

Here is css:

#header{
    position:fixed;
    height: 6em;
    display:block;
    width: 100%;        
    background: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1);
    z-index:9;
    text-align:center;
    color: #000000; 
}

And inside, I want to center text middle and vertical middle. Here is what I have so far, but it's not working. All example online shows with an absolute position as the container, but it's not working with the fixed one.

HTML:

<div id="header">
   <div id="bandname">Bewolf Photography</div>
   <div id="insta"><img  src="imgs/insta.png" width="40" alt="tablets" /></div>
   <div id="bandname">Bewolf Photography</div>
</div>

CSS for text and image:

#bandname
{
   display: inline-block;
   font-size: 2.8em;
   padding: 0px 0px 0 0;
   vertical-align: middle;
   background: rgba(0, 255, 0, 1);
}

#insta { 
 display: inline-block;
 padding: 0px 0px 0px 50px;
 vertical-align: middle;
}

I just can't figure that one out...

I tried using

   line-height:  6em;  

Help would be appreciated.. .thanks but that doesn't work either.

Answer 1

Use the pseudo element vertical centre trick.

#header:before brings the inline elements down to the centre. The direct children of header are given display: inline-block and vertical-align: middle to keep a straight line.

Read more about pseudo elements here.

This technique basically adds a "div" before the rest of your content. (It can be replaced with a real <div> if you really need this to work in IE7 and below. [Don't bother!] ). It basically looks like this:

<div class="header">
  <!-- added by css -->
  <div>I am :before and you will all do as I say! To the middle, plebs!</div>
  <!-- end css content -->

  <div>Yes master!</div>
  <div>Anything you say sir!</div>
</div>

Working Example

Note: I removed the div from around the image. It seems unnecessary, but can be placed back in if needs must. Also, I have targeted only the direct children of #header using the direct children selector: >. Here is a huge list of CSS selectors.

#header {
  position: fixed;
  height: 6em;
  display: block;
  width: 100%;
  background: rgb(0, 255, 255);
  /* Fall-back for browsers that don't support rgba  */
  background: rgba(0, 255, 255, 1);
  z-index: 9;
  text-align: center;
  color: #000000;
  top: 0px;
}
#header:before {
  content: '';
  display: inline-block;
  vertical-align: middle;
  height: 100%;
}
#header > div,
#header > img {
  display: inline-block;
  font-size: 2.8em;
  padding: 0px 0px 0 0;
  vertical-align: middle;
}

<div id="header">
  <div id="bandname">Test</div>
  <img src="http://www.placehold.it/50" width="40" alt="tablets" />
  <div id="bandname">test</div>
</div>

Answer 2

The easiest solution is to have the following css for it's content.

#header .wrapper
{
   position: relative;
   top: 50%;
   transform: translateY(-50%);
}

Since there are multiple children, it's better to wrap them around a wrapper div. Here's the working example:

http://jsfiddle.net/zf987w0b/1/

Answer 3

You can use the properties left, right, top and bottom, set em to 50% for example, and them use the transform property to translate the element -50% of itself to perfectly center it. Sounds confuse but i made a fiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/zzztfkwu/ Will this work?

EDIT: http://jsfiddle.net/kbh97n82/1 updated fiddle with .wrapper solution.