This article is ten years old; thought that worth flagging. Nowadays I find myself more comfortable using flexbox and grids to manage these kinds of layout subtleties. Or when in complete dismay, using the `top:50%;left:50%;translate(-50%,-50%)` hack. I find inline elements less reliable and less 'knowable', especially in responsive layouts. I think I only end up using vertical-align in incredibly narrow use-cases. Though curious to hear other peoples' experiences.