Learn the Best Practices and Design Patterns behind every CSS layout. Know exactly what you *should* and *shouldn't* do at all times. And develop the intuition to **break every layout into its simplest building blocks** and the ability to **recreate it with both CSS Grid and Flexbox**.

### Why CSS Feels Hard and Frustrating

CSS is different than any other programming language. That's because it's not a programming language itself.

And that's why **CSS can feel painful, stressing, and overwhelming**. 

A common misconception is that with enough practice and experience, it will somehow just "click" eventually, but it doesn't work that way. 

This is what happens when you try to build a layout without first learning, understanding, and implementing the fundamentals. 

And this is when **CSS feels like throwing mud at the wall and hoping something sticks**. 

This is when editing a layout feels like defusing a bomb where one wrong move will turn everything to dust.

Flexbox and Grid definitely make things easier, and so does Bootstrap and TailwindCSS. **But these alone are not enough to help you feel confident in your abilities to build complex, responsive CSS layouts**.

It's like thinking you're a great painter because you have a canvas and a brush.

**These are just *tools***. But to paint a masterpiece, you need to know the fundamentals of painting.

And to build a picture-perfect layout that will last, **you *need* to learn the fundamental CSS Design Patterns**.



### How *Mastering CSS Layouts* Helps:

*Mastering CSS Layouts* teaches you the 7 fundamental Design Patterns that are used to build every layout in existence in the most simple and sturdy way that's easy to make responsive. 

You'll not only be able to recognize them, but also know *exactly* **how to use them in real-life scenarios like complex landing pages, SaaS interfaces, and more**.

You can finally **feel confident in your ability to build any layout there is from scratch** or edit an existing layout without breaking anything. 

Because you'll **know what you should and shouldn't do when building your layout**. 

Thanks to the best practices and foundational building blocks that are used to build all complex and responsive layouts.

These Design Patterns work with both Flexbox and CSS Grid so **you can use whichever you want** whenever it's time to build or edit a layout. 

And when you see a layout that seems harder to implement, you'll know **how to stack patterns on top of each other to achieve the exact result you want** every single time.  

### Course Content Overview

Course Overview:
Total Modules: **5**
Total Lessons: **24**
Total Video Runtime: **1 hour, 27 minutes**

Unlock the Secrets of CSS Layouts with Practical Expertise in Design Patterns

Become confident in building any CSS layout by learning the fundamental CSS Design Patterns and Best Practices that are responsible for all the CSS layouts in the world. 


Make CSS easy and intuitive by identifying those building blocks in seconds in every layout and learn how to code each of them using CSS Grid or Flexbox. By the end of this course, CSS will finally "click". 


Everything will make sense and you'll know how to build from scratch or edit  both simple and complex layouts.

Mastering CSS Layout

---
title: The Center Design Pattern in CSS Grid
description: Half of the centering is done through your typical auto margin technique.  The children are centering through a few extra CSS Grid properties.
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isPublicLesson: true
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code: https://gitlab.com/fullstackio/books/newline-course-apps/travis-waith-mair-mastering-css-layout-app/-/tree/main/module_02/lesson_06
---

# Mastering the Center Design Pattern in Web Development

## Introduction

This article aims to unravel the concept of the center design pattern in web development. The focus will be on understanding how to use attribute selectors effectively and how to center both an element and its children in a webpage. It will also delve into how to handle certain situations that may arise due to conflicting styles and resets. To effectively grasp these concepts, a practical example of creating a testimonial section will be provided. Let's dive in.

Here's a demo of what we'll be building:

<ReplitEmbed src="https://replit.com/@newlineauthors/Master-CSS-Layout-26" />

## Understanding the Center Design Pattern

The center design pattern is essentially designed to allow an item to grow to a maximum size and then center it. Instead of using the typical `margin: 0 auto`, we can use `margin-inline-start: auto` and `margin-inline-end: auto`. While the former might seem simpler, it forces a margin of zero on top of the item, which might interfere with other styles. The latter approach, on the other hand, is a bit more explicit and does not affect other styling aspects. Even if it adds a few extra characters, it minifies well and is therefore not a major concern.

Half of the centering is done through your typical auto margin technique.  The children are centering through a few extra CSS Grid properties.