css - Vertical-align image

Question

I have a div that contains an image and a p tag (seen below). I want to align the image in the middle of the div vertically depending on how many lines the paragraph is. Vertical-align doesn't work. I am using JavaScript right now to figure out how much to add to margin-top, but would rather use CSS. Any ideas?

<div>
    <img>
    <p>Multi-line</p>
</div>

Answer 1

This is pure CSS, vertically aligns the image, and also resizes the image down if it's taller (or wider) than the containing box. Ergo, the box and image can both be any size without breaking the vertical alignment. Also, you may want to add a left margin to the <p> tags to keep them from being hidden by the image.

CSS

/* Positioning */
.absoluteCenterWrapper {
    position: relative; /* Contains the image in the div */
}
.absoluteCenter { /* Aligns image vertically */
    margin: auto;
    position: absolute;
    top: 0;
    bottom: 0;
}
.absoluteCenterWrapper p { /* Pushes <p> to edge of image */
    margin-left: 101px; /* Width of image */
}
.absoluteCenter { /* Specifies width of image to avoid overlap if image changes */
    width: 101px; /* Width of image */
}

/* Sizing - resizes down to avoid cutting off */
.absoluteCenter {
    max-height: 100%;
    max-width: 100%;
}

/* Making it "pretty" */
.absoluteCenterWrapper { margin: 1em; padding: 0.001em; /* <- Hack to contain margins */ outline: 1px solid red; }
.absoluteCenterWrapper p { margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 1em;}

<div class="absoluteCenterWrapper">
 <img class="absoluteCenter" src="data:image/png;base64,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">
 <p>Paragraph goes here.</p>
 <p>Paragraph goes here.</p>
</div>
<div class="absoluteCenterWrapper">
 <img class="absoluteCenter" src="data:image/png;base64,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">
 <p>Paragraph goes here.</p>
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</div>