CSS margin-left - Examples

CSS margin-left Property

CSS margin-left property sets the left side margin to HTML Element(s).

The syntax to specify a value for margin-left property is

margin-left: value;

The following table gives the possible values that could be given to margin-left property.

Value	Description	Examples
length	Any valid CSS length unit. Refer CSS Length Units tutorial.	margin-left: 10px;margin-left: 5pt;margin-left: 2cm;
Percentage Value	Left margin in percent of the width of the containing element.	margin-left: 20%;
initial	Sets margin-left to default value.	margin-left: initial;
inherit	Inherits margin-left value from its parent element.	margin-left: inherit;

Examples

In the following examples, we set left margin to HTML Element(s) with a few allowed values for margin-left CSS property.

Simple Example

The following is a simple example, where we set margin-left for paragraph with 50px.

index.html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <style>
        #p1 {
            margin-left: 50px;
        }
    </style>
</head>
<body>
    <p id="p1">A paragraph with 50px left margin.</p>
</body>
</html>

Different Values for margin-left

The following is a simple example, where we set different margin-left values for paragraphs.

index.html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <style>
        #p1 {
            margin-left: 50px;
        }
        #p2 {
            margin-left: 0px;
        }
        #p3 {
            margin-left: 20px;
        }
        #p4 {
            margin-left: 10px;
        }
    </style>
</head>
<body>
    <p id="p1">A paragraph with 50px left margin.</p>
    <p id="p2">A paragraph with 0px left margin.</p>
    <p id="p3">A paragraph with 20px left margin.</p>
    <p id="p4">A paragraph with 10px left margin.</p>
</body>
</html>

margin-left property with CSS Length Units

In the following example, we apply margin-left property to paragraphs with a few different CSS Length Unit values.

index.html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <style>
        #p1 {
            margin-left: 50px;
        }
        #p2 {
            margin-left: 1in;
        }
        #p3 {
            margin-left: 10pt;
        }
    </style>
</head>
<body>
    <p id="p1">A paragraph with 50px left margin.</p>
    <p id="p2">A paragraph with 1in left margin.</p>
    <p id="p3">A paragraph with 10pt left margin.</p>
</body>
</html>

margin-left property with Percentage Values

In the following example, we apply margin-left property to paragraphs with a few different percentage values.

If margin-left is specified in percentage values, and if width of the HTML element changes, then the margin also changes. For example, try to resize the browser window, and observe the left margin for these HTML Elements.

index.html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <style>
        #p1 {
            margin-left: 5%;
        }
        #p2 {
            margin-left: 10%;
        }
        #p3 {
            margin-left: 20%;
        }
    </style>
</head>
<body>
    <p id="p1">A paragraph with 5% left margin.</p>
    <p id="p2">A paragraph with 10% left margin.</p>
    <p id="p3">A paragraph with 20% left margin.</p>
</body>
</html>

margin-left property for a few HTML elements

In the following example, we take a few HTML elements like h1, p, a, and pre, and set margin-left for these.

index.html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <style>
        h1, p, a, pre {
            display: block;
        }
        h1 {
            margin-left: 50px;
        }
        p {
            margin-left: 70px;
        }
        a {
            margin-left: 50px;
        }
        pre {
            margin-left: 50px;
        }
    </style>
</head>
<body>
    <h1>Heading 1</h1>
    <p>A paragraph.</p>
    <a href="#">Anchor Text</a>
    <pre>pre
hello
world</pre>
</body>
</html>

Conclusion

In this CSS Tutorial, we learned about margin-left property, and how to use this property for HTML Elements, with examples.