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Wrapping Images with Divs in Tailwind CSS Alters Appearance – How to Maintain Original Layout?

I am working on implementing a horizontally scrollable image carousel using Tailwind CSS and vanilla JavaScript. My initial setup involved placing <img> elements directly within a parent div with the ID #carousel, which worked as expected. However, upon following Tailwind documentation recommendations and common practices, I attempted to wrap each <img> element within its own div for better control and styling. This modification unexpectedly altered the appearance and layout of the carousel.

The original HTML structure was:

<div id="carousel" class="flex gap-4 items-center overflow-x-scroll snap-mandatory snap-x">
     <img class="aspect-square rounded-full w-20 object-cover snap-start cursor-pointer" src="..." alt="profile pic" />
     <!-- more images -->
</div>

Modified to:

<div id="carousel" class="flex gap-4 items-center overflow-x-scroll snap-x">
    <div class="w-20 h-20 aspect-square rounded-full snap-start overflow-hidden cursor-pointer">
        <img class="w-full h-full object-cover" src="..." alt="profile pic" />
    </div>
    <!-- more div-wrapped images -->
</div>

After this change, the images no longer overflow the parent div, instead they do the default flex behaviour(the images shrink and try to fit the container and dont overflow). I've tried adjusting CSS properties but haven't managed to replicate the original.

My questions are:

  1. Why does wrapping images in div elements affect the carousel's appearance and how can I correct this while maintaining the div wrapping for additional styling control?
  2. What are the advantages of enclosing images within div elements, as recommended by Tailwind documentation and common practices?

I've searched Stack Overflow and the Tailwind CSS documentation but haven't found a specific solution to my problem. Similar questions didn't address the nuanced differences caused by wrapping elements in divs, particularly in a Tailwind context.

Solution

  • Why does wrapping images in div elements affect the carousel's appearance […]

    This is due to the min-width: min-content applied implicitly to horizontal flex layout children and the default flex-shrink value of 1 .

    When not wrapped, the <img> elements have their min-content resolved to their widths, i.e 5rem from the w-20 class. So even though these elements would have flex-shrink: 1, they cannot shrink in width below this min-content length.

    When they are wrapped, the parent <div> elements would have their min-content resolved to 0 and the default flex-shrink: 1 makes them shrink. Thus, because the <img> elements now have width: 100% from the w-full class, they should be the width of their respective parent and thus shrink in width.

    How can I correct this while maintaining the div wrapping for additional styling control?

    Consider applying flex-shrink: 0 to the <div> parent elements via the shrink-0 class:

    <script src="https://cdn.tailwindcss.com/3.4.1"></script>

<div id="carousel" class="flex gap-4 items-center overflow-x-scroll snap-x">
  <div class="w-20 h-20 aspect-square rounded-full snap-start overflow-hidden cursor-pointer shrink-0">
    <img class="w-full h-full object-cover" src="https://picsum.photos/80/80" alt="profile pic" />
  </div>
  <div class="w-20 h-20 aspect-square rounded-full snap-start overflow-hidden cursor-pointer shrink-0">
    <img class="w-full h-full object-cover" src="https://picsum.photos/80/80?" alt="profile pic" />
  </div>
  <div class="w-20 h-20 aspect-square rounded-full snap-start overflow-hidden cursor-pointer shrink-0">
    <img class="w-full h-full object-cover" src="https://picsum.photos/80/80?0" alt="profile pic" />
  </div>
  <div class="w-20 h-20 aspect-square rounded-full snap-start overflow-hidden cursor-pointer shrink-0">
    <img class="w-full h-full object-cover" src="https://picsum.photos/80/80?1" alt="profile pic" />
  </div>
  <div class="w-20 h-20 aspect-square rounded-full snap-start overflow-hidden cursor-pointer shrink-0">
    <img class="w-full h-full object-cover" src="https://picsum.photos/80/80?2" alt="profile pic" />
  </div>
  <div class="w-20 h-20 aspect-square rounded-full snap-start overflow-hidden cursor-pointer shrink-0">
    <img class="w-full h-full object-cover" src="https://picsum.photos/80/80?3" alt="profile pic" />
  </div>
  <div class="w-20 h-20 aspect-square rounded-full snap-start overflow-hidden cursor-pointer shrink-0">
    <img class="w-full h-full object-cover" src="https://picsum.photos/80/80?4" alt="profile pic" />
  </div>
  <div class="w-20 h-20 aspect-square rounded-full snap-start overflow-hidden cursor-pointer shrink-0">
    <img class="w-full h-full object-cover" src="https://picsum.photos/80/80?5" alt="profile pic" />
  </div>
  <div class="w-20 h-20 aspect-square rounded-full snap-start overflow-hidden cursor-pointer shrink-0">
    <img class="w-full h-full object-cover" src="https://picsum.photos/80/80?6" alt="profile pic" />
  </div>
</div>

    What are the advantages of enclosing images within div elements […]?

    Some layouts and styling can be achieved by enclosing <img> elements within another elements that could not be achieved with an <img> alone.