Horizontally centering/evenly distributed <li> inside of <ul> inside a <div>

This allows a widthless centered dynamic ul if you don't want to specify 90% width:

<!doctype html>
<div class="navbar">
    <div id="for-ie">
        <ul>
            <li><a href="Home">Home</a></li>
            <li><a href="Discounts">Discounts</a></li>
            <li><a href="Contact">Contact Us</a></li>
            <li><a href="About">About Us</a></li>
        </ul>
    </div>
</div>
<style>
.navbar {
    width: 100%;
    margin-left: auto ;
    margin-right: auto ;
    background-color: #ABCDEF;
}
.navbar ul {
    list-style-type: none; /*to remove bullets*/
    text-align: center;
    margin: 0 auto;
    padding: 0px;
    border:1px solid red;
    display:table;
    overflow: hidden;
}
.navbar li{
    float: left;
    padding: 2px;
    width: 150px;
    margin-left: auto ;
    margin-right: auto ;
}
</style>
<!--[if IE]>
<style>
    #for-ie { text-align:center; }
    #for-ie ul { display:inline-block; }
    #for-ie ul { display:inline; }
</style>
<![endif]-->

Tested in IE6, FX 3.

EDIT: Alternate style without the extraneous element:

<!doctype html>
<div class="navbar">
    <ul>
        <li><a href="Home">Home</a></li>
        <li><a href="Discounts">Discounts</a></li>
        <li><a href="Contact">Contact Us</a></li>
        <li><a href="About">About Us</a></li>
    </ul>
</div>
<style>
.navbar {
    width: 100%;
    margin-left: auto ;
    margin-right: auto ;
    background-color: #ABCDEF;
}
.navbar ul {
    list-style-type: none; /*to remove bullets*/
    text-align: center;
    padding: 0px;
    zoom:1;
    border:1px solid red;
    overflow: hidden;
}
.navbar li{
    padding: 2px;
    width: 150px;
    display:inline-block;
}
</style>
<!--[if IE]>
<style>
    .navbar li { display:inline; }
</style>
<![endif]-->

The proper way to do this these days is to just use Flexbox:

.navbar ul {
  list-style-type: none;
  padding: 0;
  display: flex;
  flex-direction: row;
  justify-content: space-around;
  flex-wrap: nowrap; /* assumes you only want one row */
}

Tags:

Css

Centering

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