position

La propiedad position de CSS especifica como se posicionar un elemento en el documento. las propiedades top, right, bottom, y left determinan la localizacion final de los elementos posicionados.

El código fuente de este ejemplo interactivo se encuentra almacenado en el repositorio de GitHub. Si quisiera contribuir al proyecto del ejemplo interactivo, por favor clone https://github.com/mdn/interactive-examples y envíe sus contribuciones a nosotros como un pull request.

Tipos de posicionamiento

• Un elemento posicionado es un elemento cuyo valor de position computado es relative, absolute, fixed, o sticky. (En otras palabras, cualquiera excepto static.)
• Un elemento posicionado relativamente es un elemento cuyo valor de position computado es relative. Las propiedades top y bottom especifican el desplazamiento vertical desde su posición original; las propiedades left y rightespecifican su desplazamiento horizontal
• Un elemento posicionado absolutamente es un elemento cuyo valor de  position computado es absolute o fixed. Las propiedades top, right, bottom, y  left especifica el desplazamiento desde los bordes del bloque contenedor del elemento. (El bloque contenedor es el ancestro más cercano posicionado.) Si el elemento tiene márgenes, se agregarán al desplazamiento.
• Un elemento positionado como sticky es un elemento cuyo valor de  position computado es sticky. se trata como un elemento posicionado relativamente hasta que su bloque contenedor cruza el límite establecido, desde ese punto queda fijo.

La mayor parte del tiempo, los elementos absolutamente posicionados que tienen su height y width establecidos en auto son ajustados hasta alcanzar su contenido. Sin embargo, se pueden tener elementos non-replaced y absolutamente posicionados que pueden llenar el espacio vertical disponible especificando en ambos top y bottom y dejando height sin especificar (esto es, auto). De igual manera se puede utilizar para llenar el espacio horizontal disponible especificando ambos: left y right y dejando widthen auto.

Excepto para el caso que se acaba de describir (de elementos posicionados absolutamente rellenando el espacio disponible):

• Si ambos, top y bottom están especificados (técnicamente, no auto), top gana.
• Si ambos, left y right, están especificados,  left gana cuando es ltr (Inglés, japonés horizontal, etc.) y right gana cuando direction es rtl (Persa, árabe, hebreo, etc.).

Syntax

La propiedad position es especificada como una palabra única elegida de la siguiente lista de valores.

Valores

static

El elemento es posicionado de acuerdo al flujo normal del documento. Las propiedades top, right, bottom, left, and z-index no tienen efecto. Este es el valor por defecto.

relative

The element is positioned according to the normal flow of the document, and then offset relative to itself based on the values of top, right, bottom, and left. The offset does not affect the position of any other elements; thus, the space given for the element in the page layout is the same as if position were static. This value creates a new stacking context when the value of z-index is not auto. The effect of relative on table-*-group, table-row, table-column, table-cell, and table-caption elements is undefined.

absolute

The element is removed from the normal document flow; no space is created for the element in the page layout. Instead, it is positioned relative to its closest positioned ancestor if any; otherwise, it is placed relative to the initial containing block. Its final position is determined by the values of top, right, bottom, and left. This value creates a new stacking context when the value of z-index is not auto. Absolutely positioned boxes can have margins, and they do not collapse with any other margins.

fixed

The element is removed from the normal document flow; no space is created for the element in the page layout. Instead, it is positioned relative to the screen's viewport and doesn't move when scrolled. Its final position is determined by the values of top, right, bottom, and left. This value always creates a new stacking context. When an ancestor has the transform, perspective, or filter property set to something other than none, that ancestor is used as the container instead of the viewport (see CSS Transforms Spec). In printed documents, the element is placed in the same position on every page.

sticky

The element is positioned according to the normal flow of the document, and then offset relative to its flow root and containing block, including table-related elements, based on the values of top, right, bottom, and left. The offset does not affect the position of any other elements. This value always creates a new stacking context. Note that sticky, by specification, will not work inside element with overflow: hidden or auto. (ref: Github issue on W3C CSSWG)

Formal syntax

static | relative | absolute | sticky | fixed

Examples

Relative positioning

Relatively positioned elements are offset a given amount from their normal position within the document, but without the offset affecting other elements. In the example below, note how the other elements are placed as if "Two" were taking up the space of its normal location.

HTML

<div class="box" id="one">One</div>
<div class="box" id="two">Two</div>
<div class="box" id="three">Three</div>
<div class="box" id="four">Four</div>

CSS

.box {
  display: inline-block;
  width: 100px;
  height: 100px;
  background: red;
  color: white;
}

#two {
  position: relative;
  top: 20px;
  left: 20px;
  background: blue;
}

Absolute positioning

Elements that are relatively positioned remain in the normal flow of the document. In contrast, an element that is absolutely positioned is taken out of the flow; thus, other elements are positioned as if it did not exist. The absolutely positioned element is positioned relative to its nearest positioned ancestor (i.e., the nearest ancestor that is not static). If a positioned ancestor doesn't exist, the initial container is used. In the example below, box "Two" has no positioned ancestor, so it is positioned relative to the the <body> of the document.

HTML

<div class="box" id="one">One</div>
<div class="box" id="two">Two</div>
<div class="box" id="three">Three</div>
<div class="box" id="four">Four</div>

CSS

.box {
  display: inline-block;
  width: 100px;
  height: 100px;
  background: red;
  color: white;
}

#two {
  position: absolute;
  top: 20px;
  left: 20px;
  background: blue;
}

Fixed positioning

Fixed positioning is similar to absolute positioning, with the exception that the element's containing block is the viewport. This can be used to create a floating element that stays in the same position regardless of scrolling. In the example below, box "One" is fixed at 80 pixels from the top of the page and 10 pixels from the left. Even after scrolling, it remains in the same place relative to the viewport.

HTML

<div class="outer">
  <p>
    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nam congue tortor eget pulvinar lobortis.
    Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Nam ac dolor augue.
    Pellentesque mi mi, laoreet et dolor sit amet, ultrices varius risus. Nam vitae iaculis elit.
    Aliquam mollis interdum libero. Sed sodales placerat egestas. Vestibulum ut arcu aliquam purus viverra dictum vel sit amet mi.
    Duis nisl mauris, aliquam sit amet luctus eget, dapibus in enim. Sed velit augue, pretium a sem aliquam, congue porttitor tortor.
    Sed tempor nisl a lorem consequat, id maximus erat aliquet. Sed sagittis porta libero sed condimentum.
    Aliquam finibus lectus nec ante congue rutrum. Curabitur quam quam, accumsan id ultrices ultrices, tempor et tellus.
  </p>
  <p>
    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nam congue tortor eget pulvinar lobortis.
    Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Nam ac dolor augue.
    Pellentesque mi mi, laoreet et dolor sit amet, ultrices varius risus. Nam vitae iaculis elit.
    Aliquam mollis interdum libero. Sed sodales placerat egestas. Vestibulum ut arcu aliquam purus viverra dictum vel sit amet mi.
    Duis nisl mauris, aliquam sit amet luctus eget, dapibus in enim. Sed velit augue, pretium a sem aliquam, congue porttitor tortor.
    Sed tempor nisl a lorem consequat, id maximus erat aliquet. Sed sagittis porta libero sed condimentum.
    Aliquam finibus lectus nec ante congue rutrum. Curabitur quam quam, accumsan id ultrices ultrices, tempor et tellus.
  </p>
  <div class="box" id="one">One</div>
</div>

CSS

.box {
  width: 100px;
  height: 100px;
  background: red;
  color: white;
}

#one {
  position: fixed;
  top: 80px;
  left: 10px;
  background: blue;
}

.outer {
  width: 500px;
  height: 300px;
  overflow: scroll;
  padding-left: 150px;
}

Sticky positioning

Sticky positioning can be thought of as a hybrid of relative and fixed positioning. A stickily positioned element is treated as relatively positioned until it crosses a specified threshold, at which point it is treated as fixed until it reaches the boundary of its parent. For instance...

#one { position: sticky; top: 10px; }

...would position the element with id one relatively until the viewport were scrolled such that the element would be less than 10 pixels from the top. Beyond that threshold, the element would be fixed to 10 pixels from the top.

HTML

<dl>
  <div>
    <dt>A</dt>
    <dd>Andrew W.K.</dd>
    <dd>Apparat</dd>
    <dd>Arcade Fire</dd>
    <dd>At The Drive-In</dd>
    <dd>Aziz Ansari</dd>
  </div>
  <div>
    <dt>C</dt>
    <dd>Chromeo</dd>
    <dd>Common</dd>
    <dd>Converge</dd>
    <dd>Crystal Castles</dd>
    <dd>Cursive</dd>
  </div>
  <div>
    <dt>E</dt>
    <dd>Explosions In The Sky</dd>
  </div>
  <div>
    <dt>T</dt>
    <dd>Ted Leo &amp; The Pharmacists</dd>
    <dd>T-Pain</dd>
    <dd>Thrice</dd>
    <dd>TV On The Radio</dd>
    <dd>Two Gallants</dd>
  </div>
</dl>

CSS

* {
  box-sizing: border-box;
}

dl > div {
  background: #FFF;
  padding: 24px 0 0 0;
}

dt {
  background: #B8C1C8;
  border-bottom: 1px solid #989EA4;
  border-top: 1px solid #717D85;
  color: #FFF;
  font: bold 18px/21px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
  margin: 0;
  padding: 2px 0 0 12px;
  position: -webkit-sticky;
  position: sticky;
  top: -1px;
}

dd {
  font: bold 20px/45px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
  margin: 0;
  padding: 0 0 0 12px;
  white-space: nowrap;
}

dd + dd {
  border-top: 1px solid #CCC;
}

Specifications

Browser compatibility