Vertically centering a div inside another div

Vertical align middle works, but you will have to use table-cell on your parent element and inline-block on the child.

This solution is not going to work in IE6 & 7.
Yours is the safer way to go for those.
But since you tagged your question with CSS3 and HTML5 I was thinking that you don't mind using a modern solution.

The classic solution (table layout)

This was my original answer. It still works fine and is the solution with the widest support. Table-layout will impact your rendering performance so I would suggest that you use one of the more modern solutions.

Here is an example

---

Tested in:

• FF3.5
• FF4
• Safari 5
• Chrome 11 & 12
• IE9

---

HTML

<div class="cn"><div class="inner">your content</div></div>

CSS

.cn {
  display: table-cell;
  width: 500px;
  height: 500px;
  vertical-align: middle;
  text-align: center;
}

.inner {
  display: inline-block;
  width: 200px; height: 200px;
}

---

Modern solution (transform)

Since transforms are fairly well supported now there is an easier way to do it.

CSS

.cn {
  position: relative;
  width: 500px;
  height: 500px;
}

.inner {
  display: absolute;
  width: 200px;
  height: 200px;
}

Demo

---

♥ my favourite most modern solution (flexbox)

I started to use flexbox more and more its also well supported now Its by far the easiest way.

CSS

.cn {
  position: relative;
  width: 500px;
  height: 500px;
}

.inner {
  align-self: center;
}

Demo

More examples & possibilities: Compare all the methods on one pages