CSS Margin Properties

2008 Oct 17

Property Values Initial Value Applies to Inherited Percentage
margin [ <length> | <percentage> | auto ] {1,4} | inherit not defined all elements no of width of containing block
margin-bottom
margin-left
margin-right
margin-top 		<length> | <percentage> | auto | inherit 0 all elements no of width of containing block
Negative values can cause overlap and content being outside of parent box.

Example of negative margins:

CSS+HTML Results 
.b_neg { border: 1px dashed; margin: 0 -12px; 
         color: #336699; font-weight: bold; }
.ok { border: double; margin: 20px; }
...
<div class=ok>
  Upper text.
  <div class=b_neg>To be or not 
  to be is a tautology!</div>
  Lower text.
</div>
Upper text.
To be or not to be is a tautology!
Lower text.