Centering a form element with flexbox

Question

I have lots of content on my page, along with a form that shows when a user clicks the button. I can center the form using flexbox like so:

.container-column {
  display: flex;
  flex-wrap: wrap;
  flex-direction: column; 
  align-items: center;
}

This centers the form, but the problem with this approach is it pushes the rest of my content down, which is visually unappealing. I tried to add a z-index of 999 but this doesn't work. I also used position:absolute but this just stacks the form on top left.

Is there a simple way to place the form in the middle of the page, while leaving the rest of the content as is? I am ok with the form overlaying the rest of the content.

Update 1 Upon request, here is the relevant code:

Form:

return (
            <form className="container-column">
                <div className="icon ion-ios-close-empty close-btn" onClick={() => this.props.signupBtnClick('close')}></div>
                <input type="text" name="firstname" placeholder="firstname" className="form-element"></input>
                <input type="text" name="lastname" placeholder="lastname" className="form-element"></input>
                <input type="text" name="username" placeholder="username" className="form-element"></input>
                <input type="password" placeholder="password" className="form-element"></input>
                <input type="password" placeholder="repeat password" className="form-element"></input>
                <input type="email" name="email" placeholder="email" className="form-element"></input>
                <input type="submit" value="submit" className="form-element btn-form2"></input>
            </form>
        )

Form is a react component which is used in the index page as follows:

return (
            <div>
                <section className="section-header">
                    <div className="container-row signup-login-btns">
                        <button className="btn btn-form1" onClick={() => this.renderLoginForm()}>Login</button>
                        <button className="btn btn-form2" onClick={() => this.renderSignupForm()}>Signup</button>
                    </div>
                    {this.state.showSignupForm ? <SignupForm signupBtnClick={(type) => this.onSignupClick(type)} />: null }
   **other content, which gets pushed down once the form is shown**

The relevant css classes:

.form-element {
  border:none;
  align-content:center;
  text-align:center;
  outline:none;
  width: 400px;
  height: 45px;
  margin: 10px;
  color: #7f8c8d;
  font-size:120%;
  border-radius:10px;
}

.section-header {
    background: #d53369;
  /* fallback for old browsers */
  background: -webkit-linear-gradient(to left, #d53369, #cbad6d);
  /* Chrome 10-25, Safari 5.1-6 */
  background: linear-gradient(to left, #d53369, #cbad6d);
  margin-top:0px;
  padding-top:0px;
  padding-bottom:5%;

}

score 4 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:14

4

Try this:

body {
     position: relative;
}

.container-column {
     position: absolute;
     top: 50%;
     left: 50%;
     transform: translate(-50%,-50%);

     display: flex;
     flex-wrap: wrap;
     flex-direction: column; 
     align-items: center;
}

For details about this centering method see: Element will not stay centered, especially when re-sizing screen

edited May 23 '17 at 12:14

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answered Jul 13 '16 at 20:37

Michael Benjamin

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Centering a form element with flexbox

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