Why Doesn't `vertical-align: middle` Always Vertically Center Inline Content?

Vertical-align's Unexpected Consequences: Misaligned Content

In the realm of web design, vertical-align plays a crucial role in vertically positioning elements. However, there are instances where the intended alignment fails to occur, leading to a misalignment of content.

Consider the following example:

p {
  background: yellow
}

span {
  display: inline-block;
  vertical-align: middle;
  height: 50px;
  background: pink;
}

<p>Hello <span>What in the</span> World?</p>

In this scenario, we expect the span element to be vertically aligned within its surrounding paragraph. However, upon applying vertical-align: middle to the span, we encounter an unexpected result: the entire paragraph, excluding the span's content, becomes vertically aligned.

Why does this misalignment occur? It's not a bug but rather the expected behavior of vertical-align. Vertical-align specifies the vertical alignment of elements, and in this case, the span is centered within the paragraph. The absence of alignment on the span's content indicates that the browser is rendering the content according to its natural height, which is less than the height of the span itself.

To remove the misalignment, we can adjust the vertical alignment of the span's content by modifying its vertical alignment:

span {
  position: relative;
  vertical-align: middle;
  top: 50%;
  transform: translateY(-50%);
}

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