How to center a checkbox in a table cell?

Html Problem Overview

The cell contains nothing but a checkbox. It is rather wide because of text in the table header row. How do I center the checkbox (with inline CSS in my HTML? (I know))

I tried

 <td>
      <input type="checkbox" name="myTextEditBox" value="checked" 
      style="margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;">
 </td>

but that didn't work. What am I doing wrong?

Update: here's a test page. Can someone please correct it - with CSS inline in the HTML - so that the checkboxes are centered in their columns?

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
<title>Alignment test</title>
</head>
<body>

<table style="empty-cells:hide; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;" border="1"   cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1">

  <tr>
    <th>Search?</th><th>Field</th><th colspan="2">Search criteria</th><th>Include in report?<br></th>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td>
        <input type="checkbox" name="query_myTextEditBox" style="text-align:center; vertical-align: middle;">    
    </td>

    <td>
      myTextEditBox
    </td>

    <td>
       <select size ="1" name="myTextEditBox_compare_operator">
        <option value="=">equals</option>
        <option value="<>">does not equal</option>
       </select>
    </td>

    <td>
      <input type="text" name="myTextEditBox_compare_value">
    </td>

    <td>
      <input type="checkbox" name="report_myTextEditBox" value="checked" style="text-align:center; vertical-align: middle;">
    </td>

  </tr>

</table>


</body>
</html>

I have accepted @Hristo's answer - and here it is with inline formatting ...

<table style="empty-cells:hide;" border="1"   cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1">

    <tr>
        <th>Search?</th><th>Field</th><th colspan="2">Search criteria</th><th>Include in report?<br></th>
    </tr>

    <tr>
        <td style="text-align: center; vertical-align: middle;">
            <input type="checkbox" name="query_myTextEditBox">    
        </td>
    
        <td>
            myTextEditBox
        </td>
    
        <td>
            <select size ="1" name="myTextEditBox_compare_operator">
                <option value="=">equals</option>
                <option value="<>">does not equal</option>
            </select>
        </td>
    
        <td>
            <input type="text" name="myTextEditBox_compare_value">
        </td>
    
        <td style="text-align: center; vertical-align: middle;">
            <input type="checkbox" name="report_myTextEditBox" value="checked">
        </td>
    
    </tr>

</table>

Html Solutions

Solution 1 - Html

How about this... http://jsfiddle.net/gSaPb/

Check out my example on jsFiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/QzPGu. Code snippet:

td {
  text-align: center;
  /* center checkbox horizontally */
  vertical-align: middle;
  /* center checkbox vertically */
}

table {
  border: 1px solid;
  width: 200px;
}

tr {
  height: 80px;
}

<table>
  <tr>
    <td>
      <input type="checkbox" name="myTextEditBox" value="checked" /> checkbox
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>

Solution 2 - Html

Try

<td style="text-align:center;">
  <input type="checkbox" name="myTextEditBox" value="checked" />
</td>

Solution 3 - Html

Try this, this should work,

td input[type="checkbox"] {
    float: left;
    margin: 0 auto;
    width: 100%;
}

Solution 4 - Html

This should work, I am using it:

<td align="center"> <input type="checkbox" name="myTextEditBox" value="checked" ></td>

Solution 5 - Html

For dynamic writing td elements and not rely directly on the td Style

  <td>
     <div style="text-align: center;">
         <input  type="checkbox">
     </div>
  </td>

Solution 6 - Html

Pull out ALL of your in-line CSS, and move it to the head. Then use classes on the cells so you can adjust everything as you like (don't use a name like "center" - you may change it to left 6 months from now...). The alignment answer is still the same - apply it to the <td> NOT the checkbox (that would just center your check :-) )

Using you code...

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
<title>Alignment test</title>
<style>
table { margin:10px auto; border-collapse:collapse; border:1px solid gray; }
td,th { border:1px solid gray; text-align:left; padding:20px; }
td.opt1 { text-align:center; vertical-align:middle; }
td.opt2 { text-align:right; }
</style>
</head>
<body>

<table>

      <tr>
        <th>Search?</th><th>Field</th><th colspan="2">Search criteria</th><th>Include in report?<br></th>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td class="opt1"><input type="checkbox" name="query_myTextEditBox"></td>
        <td>
          myTextEditBox
        </td>
        <td>
           <select size ="1" name="myTextEditBox_compare_operator">
            <option value="=">equals</option>
            <option value="<>">does not equal</option>
           </select>
        </td>
        <td><input type="text" name="myTextEditBox_compare_value"></td>
        <td class="opt2">
          <input type="checkbox" name="report_myTextEditBox" value="checked">
        </td>
      </tr>
    </table>
    </body>
    </html>

Solution 7 - Html

If you don't support legacy browsers, I'd use flexbox because it's well supported and will simply solve most of your layout problems.

#table-id td:nth-child(1) { 
    /* nth-child(1) is the first column, change to fit your needs */
    display: flex;
    justify-content: center;
}

This centers all content in the first <td> of every row.

Solution 8 - Html

Define the float property of the check element to none:

float: none;

And center the parent element:

text-align: center;

It was the only that works for me.

Solution 9 - Html

<link href="https://stackpath.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.4.1/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet"/>

<table class="table table-bordered">
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th></th>
      <th class="text-center">Left</th>
      <th class="text-center">Center</th>
      <th class="text-center">Right</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <th>
        <span>Bootstrap (class="text-left")</span>
      </th>
      <td class="text-left">
        <input type="checkbox" />
      </td>
      <td class="text-center">
        <input type="checkbox" checked />
      </td>
      <td class="text-right">
        <input type="checkbox" />
      </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th>
        <span>HTML attribute (align="left")</span>
      </th>
      <td align="left">
        <input type="checkbox" />
      </td>
      <td align="center">
        <input type="checkbox" checked />
      </td>
      <td align="right">
        <input type="checkbox" />
      </td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

Solution 10 - Html

My problem was that there was a parent style with position: absolute !important which I was not allowed to edit.

So I gave my specific checkbox position: relative !important and it fixed the vertical misalignment issue.

Solution 11 - Html

Make sure that your <td> is not display: block;

Floating will do this, but much easier to just: display: inline;

Content Type	Original Author	Original Content on Stackoverflow
Question	Mawg says reinstate Monica	View Question on Stackoverflow
Solution 1 - Html	Hristo	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 2 - Html	Andrew Marshall	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 3 - Html	Prabhakaran S	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 4 - Html	Milos Cuculovic	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 5 - Html	Carlos E	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 6 - Html	Dawson	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 7 - Html	Rick Smith	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 8 - Html	Plastónico	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 9 - Html	Sergei	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 10 - Html	shieldgenerator7	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 11 - Html	askrich	View Answer on Stackoverflow