Text alignment in CSS - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

🧠 Conceptual

intermediate

Understanding text alignment behavior

What will be the horizontal alignment of the text inside this <div> if the CSS rule text-align: justify; is applied?

CSS

<div style="width: 300px; border: 1px solid black; text-align: justify;">This is a sample paragraph to test text alignment behavior.</div>

A Text lines will be stretched so that both left and right edges align with the container edges, except the last line.

B Text will be centered horizontally in the container.

C Text will be aligned only to the left edge of the container.

D Text will be aligned only to the right edge of the container.

💡 Hint

Justify alignment spreads text evenly across the line width.

The text-align: justify; style makes the text stretch so that each line (except the last) touches both left and right edges of the container, creating a clean block look.

📝 Syntax

intermediate

Correct CSS property for right text alignment

Which CSS rule correctly aligns text to the right inside a paragraph?

CSS

<p>Align me right</p>

A p { align-text: right; }

B p { text-align: right; }

C p { text-position: right; }

D p { horizontal-align: right; }

💡 Hint

The correct CSS property starts with 'text-align'.

The valid CSS property to align text horizontally is text-align. Other options are invalid CSS properties and will not work.

❓ rendering

advanced

Visual result of mixed text alignment

Given the following HTML and CSS, what will the text alignment be for the <span> inside the <div>?

CSS

<style>
  div { text-align: center; }
  span { text-align: left; display: inline-block; width: 100%; }
</style>
<div>This is a <span>test</span> text.</div>

A The &lt;span&gt; text alignment will be ignored and inherit the &lt;div&gt; alignment.

B The &lt;span&gt; text will be centered along with the &lt;div&gt; text.

C The &lt;span&gt; text will be aligned to the right inside the &lt;div&gt;.

D The &lt;span&gt; text will be aligned to the left inside the centered &lt;div&gt;.

💡 Hint

Inline-block elements can have their own text alignment.

The <div> centers its text, but the <span> is inline-block with 100% width and text-align left, so its text aligns left inside the centered container.

❓ selector

advanced

CSS selector specificity for text alignment

Which CSS rule will override the others to align text to the right for all paragraphs inside a section with class 'content'?

A p { text-align: right !important; }

B section.content p { text-align: right; }

C .content p { text-align: right; }

D #main .content p { text-align: right; }

💡 Hint

The !important rule overrides normal specificity.

The !important declaration forces the style to apply regardless of selector specificity, so option A will override all others.

❓ accessibility

expert

Ensuring accessible text alignment for screen readers

Which practice helps maintain accessibility when using CSS text alignment for paragraphs?

A Avoid using text alignment and rely only on HTML tags like &lt;center&gt; for alignment.

B Use text alignment to reorder text content visually for better screen reader reading order.

C Use text alignment purely for visual layout and ensure semantic HTML structure remains unchanged.

D Use CSS to hide text and replace it with aligned images for better visual effect.

💡 Hint

Screen readers read content in source order, not visual alignment.

Text alignment affects only visual layout. To keep content accessible, do not change the reading order or hide text. Semantic HTML and proper structure are key.

Practice

1. What does the CSS property text-align: center; do to the text inside an element?

easy

A. Aligns the text to the left edge of the container

B. Centers the text horizontally within its container

C. Aligns the text to the right edge of the container

D. Justifies the text so both edges are aligned

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand the text-align property

   This property controls horizontal alignment of inline content inside a block container.

2. Step 2: Interpret the value center

   The value center places the text in the middle horizontally.

3. Final Answer:

   Centers the text horizontally within its container -> Option B

4. Quick Check:

   text-align: center = centered text [OK]

Hint: Center text with text-align: center; [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Confusing center with justify
• Thinking it aligns text vertically
• Mixing up left and right alignment

2. Which of the following is the correct CSS syntax to align text to the right inside a paragraph?

easy

A. p { text-align = right; }

B. p { align-text: right; }

C. p { text-align: right; }

D. p { text-align-right: true; }

Solution

1. Step 1: Recall correct CSS property syntax

   CSS uses property: value; pairs inside curly braces for selectors.

2. Step 2: Identify correct property and value

   text-align is the property, and right is the value. The syntax uses a colon and semicolon.

3. Final Answer:

   p { text-align: right; } -> Option C

4. Quick Check:

   Correct CSS syntax uses colon and semicolon [OK]

Hint: Use colon : not equals = for CSS properties [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Using = instead of :
• Wrong property name like align-text
• Missing semicolon at end

3. Given the CSS below, how will the text inside the <div> appear?

div {
  text-align: justify;
  width: 300px;
}

medium

A. Text lines will stretch to fill the width, aligning both left and right edges

B. Text will be centered horizontally inside the div

C. Text will align only to the left edge

D. Text will align only to the right edge

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand text-align: justify;

   This value stretches each line so the text aligns evenly on both left and right edges.

2. Step 2: Consider container width

   The fixed width of 300px means text lines will expand or contract to fill that width fully.

3. Final Answer:

   Text lines will stretch to fill the width, aligning both left and right edges -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   justify aligns text edges both sides [OK]

Hint: Justify aligns text edges left and right [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Thinking justify centers text
• Confusing justify with right alignment
• Ignoring container width effect

4. Identify the error in this CSS snippet that aims to center text inside a header:

header {
  text-align center;
}

medium

A. Missing semicolon after property name

B. Incorrect property name, should be text-center

C. Value should be uppercase CENTER

D. Missing colon between property and value

Solution

1. Step 1: Check CSS property syntax

   CSS requires a colon ':' between property and value.

2. Step 2: Locate missing colon

   The snippet has text-align center; missing the colon after text-align.

3. Final Answer:

   Missing colon between property and value -> Option D

4. Quick Check:

   Property and value must be separated by colon [OK]

Hint: Always use colon : between property and value [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Omitting colon
• Using wrong property name
• Confusing semicolon placement

5. You want to align text inside a <section> so that the first line is centered, but all other lines are left aligned. Which CSS approach achieves this?

hard

A. Use text-align: left; on the section and text-align: center; on the first line with ::first-line pseudo-element

B. Use text-align: center; on the section and text-align: left; on a <p> inside

C. Use text-align: center; on the section and text-indent for the first line

D. Use text-align: center; on the section and text-align: left; on the ::first-line pseudo-element

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand ::first-line pseudo-element

   This targets only the first line of text inside an element for styling.

2. Step 2: Apply alignment logic

   Set the whole section text to left aligned, then override the first line to center using ::first-line.

3. Step 3: Verify option correctness

   Use text-align: left; on the section and text-align: center; on the first line with ::first-line pseudo-element correctly applies text-align: center; to the first line and left alignment to the rest.

4. Final Answer:

   Use text-align: left; on the section and text-align: center; on the first line with ::first-line pseudo-element -> Option A

5. Quick Check:

   Use ::first-line to style first line separately [OK]

Hint: Use ::first-line to style first line differently [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Trying to set first line alignment on container only
• Using text-indent instead of alignment
• Applying conflicting styles on same element