How do I center align horizontal menu?

Question

I need to center align a horizontal menu.
I've tried various solutions, including the mix of inline-block / block / center-align etc., but haven't succeeded.

Here is my code:

<div class="topmenu-design">
    <!-- Top menu content: START -->
    <ul id="topmenu firstlevel">                                                                                       
      <li class="firstli" id="node_id_64"><div><a href="#"><span>Om kampanjen</span></a></div></li>
      <li id="node_id_65"><div><a href="#"><span>Fakta om inneklima</span></a></div></li>
      <li class="lastli" id="node_id_66"><div><a href="#"><span>Statistikk</span></a></div></li>
    </ul>
    <!-- Top menu content: END -->
</div>

UPDATE

I know how to center align the ul within the div. That can be accomplished using Sarfraz's suggestion. But the list items are still floated left within the ul.

Do I need Javascript to accomplish this?

Answer 1

With CSS3 flexbox. Simple.

ul {
  display: flex;
  justify-content: center;
}

ul li {
  padding: 0 8px;
}

Answer 2

div {
     text-align: center;
}
div ul {
     display: inline-table;
}

ul as inline-table fixes the with issue. I used the parent div to align the text to center. this way it looks good even in other languages (translation, different width)

Answer 3

@Robusto's solution was the simplest for what I was trying to do, I suggest you use it. I was trying to do the same thing for images in an unordered list to make a gallery... I made a js fiddle to fool around with it. Feel free to try it here.

[it was set up using robusto's sample code]
HTML:

<div id="centerDiv">
    <ul class="centerUL">
        <li><a href="http://www.amazon.com"><img src="http://placehold.it/200x150>         </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;</li>
        <li><a href="http://www.amazon.com"><img src="http://placehold.it/200x150"></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;</li>
        <li><a href="http://www.amazon.com"><img src="http://placehold.it/200x150"></a></li>
    </ul>
</div>

CSS:

div#centerDiv {
    width: 700px;
    text-align: center;
    border: 1px solid red;
}
ul.centerUL {
    margin: 2px auto;
    line-height: 1.4;
}
.centerUL li {
    display: inline;
    text-align: center;
}

Answer 4

Here's a good article on how to do it in a pretty rock-solid way, without any hacks and full cross-browser support. Works for me:

--> http://matthewjamestaylor.com/blog/beautiful-css-centered-menus-no-hacks-full-cross-browser-support

Answer 5

Do it like this :

   <div id="footer">
        <ul>
            <li><a href="/1.html">Link 1</a></li>
            <li><a href="/2.html">Link 2</a></li>
            <li><a href="/3.html">Link 3</a></li>
            <li><a href="/4.html">Link 4</a></li>
            <li><a href="/5.html">Link 5</a></li>
        </ul>
   </div>

And the CSS:

#footer {
    background-color:#ccc;
    height:39px;
    line-height:36px;
    margin:0 auto;
    text-align:center;
    width:950px;
}

#footer ul li {
    display:inline;
    font-family:Arial,sans-serif;
    font-size:1em;
    padding:0 2px;
    text-decoration:none;
}

Answer 6

Demo - http://codepen.io/grantex/pen/InLmJ

<div class="navigation">
    <ul>
        <li><a href="">Home</a></li>
        <li><a href="">About</a></li>
        <li><a href="">Contact</a></li>
        <li><a href="">Menu</a></li>
        <li><a href="">Others</a></li>
    </ul>
</div>


.navigation {
    max-width: 700px;
    margin: 0 auto;
}
.navigation ul {
    list-style: none;
    display: table;
    width: 100%;
}
.navigation ul li {
    display: table-cell;
    text-align: center;
}
.navigation ul li a {
    padding: 5px 10px;
    width: 100%;
}

Omg so much cleaner.