CSS: Centering via the CSS box model

Question

I have a page where I want a short line of text to center both horizontally and vertically. I've successfully used margin:0 auto in the past to center horizontally, but it's not working vertically. Any tips on why not and what route I should take?

Answer 1

Murray *ACP* wrote:
Better try that again....
The code got stripped out by this wonderful Jives Forum System.  Try again, of course:
1) HTML CODE:
 <div id="test">
<p>The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.  The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.  The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.</p>
<p>The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.  The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.  The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.</p>
<p>The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.  The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.  The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.</p>
</div>
2) The CSS code to go with it:
#test {     border: 5px  double #eee;     display: table-cell;     background-color: blue;     color: yellow;     height: 600px;     width: 800px;     margin: 0 auto;     font-size: 16px;     vertical-align: middle;     text-align: center; }
I hope this satifies Murray in all material respect.  Perhaps he should also complain to JIVES about their wonderful forum software which most people love to hate.  I will try to post a test page on a server in due course when I am at my real watertight desktop!  I don't want to be hacked!
hth