Why should I use a container div in HTML?

Question

I have noticed a common technique is to place a generic container div in the root of the body tag:

  
    ...
  
  <         


        

Answer 1

I know this is an old question, but i faced this issue myself redesigning a website. Troy Dalmasso got me thinking. He makes a good point. So, i started to see if i could get it working without a container div.

I could when i set the width of the body. In my case to 960px.

This is the css i use:

html {
  text-align:center;
}

body {
  margin: 0 auto;
  width: 960px;
}

This nicely centers the inline-blocks which also have a fixed width.

Hope this is of use to anyone.