Equal space between flex items

Question

Is there a way to put a full unit of space on both sides of all items, including the first and last?

I am trying to find a way to have equal spacing around flexbox children.

In this article it seems like the nearest thing is justify-content: space-around. It says that:

space-around: items are evenly distributed in the line with equal space around them. Note that visually the spaces aren't equal, since all the items have equal space on both sides. The first item will have one unit of space against the container edge, but two units of space between the next item because that next item has its own spacing that applies.

Answer 1

There are at least two methods for equal space between all items, including the first and last items. One method, however, doesn't yet have full browser support.

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pseudo-elements

Note this section from Firefox documentation:

In-flow ::after and ::before pseudo-elements are now flex items.

In fact, all major browsers consider pseudo-elements on a flex container to be flex items.

Knowing that, add ::before and ::after to your container.

With justify-content: space-between and zero-width pseudo-elements, the visible flex items will appear evenly spaced.

flex-container {    display: flex;    justify-content: space-between;  }    flex-container::before {    content: "";  }    flex-container::after {    content: "";  }    /* non-essential decorative styles */  flex-container {    padding: 5px 0;    background-color: lightyellow;    border: 1px solid #aaa;  }  flex-item {    height: 50px;    width: 75px;    background-color: lightgreen;  }

<flex-container>    <flex-item></flex-item>    <flex-item></flex-item>    <flex-item></flex-item>    <flex-item></flex-item>  </flex-container>

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space-evenly

The CSS Box Alignment Module, which is the W3C's unfinished proposal to establish a common set of alignment properties for use across all box models, provides the space-evenly value for use with the justify-content and align-content properties.

4.3. Distributed Alignment: the stretch, space-between, space-around, and space-evenly keywords

space-evenly

The alignment subjects are evenly distributed in the alignment container, with a full-size space on either end.

The alignment subjects are distributed so that the spacing between any two adjacent alignment subjects, before the first alignment subject, and after the last alignment subject is the same.

As of this writing, however, it looks like space-evenly only works in Firefox and Chrome.

flex-container {    display: flex;    justify-content: space-evenly;  }    /* non-essential decorative styles */  flex-container {    padding: 5px 0;    background-color: lightyellow;    border: 1px solid #aaa;  }  flex-item {    height: 50px;    width: 75px;    background-color: lightgreen;  }

<flex-container>    <flex-item></flex-item>    <flex-item></flex-item>    <flex-item></flex-item>    <flex-item></flex-item>  </flex-container>

Also, here's a useful demo from the MDN justify-content page for testing space-evenly and other values in your browser. https://jsfiddle.net/gkrsr86n/