CSS Height, Width and Max-width

The CSS height and width properties are used to set the height and width of an element.

The CSS max-width property is used to set the maximum width of an element.

This element has a height of 50 pixels and a width of 100%.

CSS: Setting Height and Width

The height and width properties are used to define the dimensions of an element.

Note: These properties do not include padding, borders, or margins. They set the size of the area inside the padding, border, and margin.

CSS Height and Width Values

The height and width properties may have the following values:

• auto – This is the default. The browser calculates the height and width.
• length – Defines the height/width in units like px, cm, etc.
• % – Defines the height/width in percent of the containing block.
• initial – Sets the height/width to its default value.
• inherit – The height/width will be inherited from the parent element.

Setting max-width

The max-width property is used to set the maximum width of an element.

The max-width can be specified in:

• Length values like px, cm, etc.
• Percentage (%) of the containing block
• none – This is the default, meaning there is no maximum width

The problem with the <div> above occurs when the browser window is smaller than the element's width (e.g., 500px).
In that case, the browser adds a horizontal scrollbar to the page.

Using max-width helps the browser handle small windows more gracefully.

Tip: Drag the browser window to smaller than 500px wide to see the difference between the two <div> elements!

This element has a height of 100 pixels and a max-width of 500 pixels.

Note:
If you use both the width and max-width properties on the same element, and the width value is larger than the max-width,
then the max-width overrides the width property.