Child div set to 100% height within parent div with auto height

After scouring the internet for hours in search of an answer, I found myself reading articles like Floats 101 on alistapart and browsing through countless similar questions on stackoverflow. I have reached a point where I feel like I must ask my question before my head explodes.

Here's the issue I've been grappling with: I have a fixed-width container that houses a 100% width div with two children elements. The div expands vertically to fit its content. The children elements are floated to create columns within the parent div – the left column with a background color expands to the parent div's height, while the right column determines the parent div's overall height without a background color.

To better illustrate my problem, I've created an example here: http://jsfiddle.net/bituser/LzNuN/1/

Any assistance you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Answer №1

To prevent the right column from floating, simply apply a generous margin to accommodate the left column. When both columns are floated, the red #box element may end up with no height and become invisible. By not floating the right column, it will dictate the height of #box. However, if #right_column is not floated at all, it will automatically expand to fill the available width in #box.

Consider the following structure:

<div id="container">
    <div id="box">
        <div id="left_column">
            <p>details stuff yada yada yada</p>
        </div>
        <div id="right_column">
            <p>other stuff yada yada yada test test test test test stuff stuff content content content content content stuff stuff example stuff test stuff content content stuff content example</p>
        </div>
    </div>
</div>

Applicable CSS:

#container {
    width: 400px;
}
#box {
    background-color: red;
}
#left_column {
    width: 200px;
    background-color: blue;
    float: left;
}
#right_column{
    margin: 0 0 0 200px;
    background-color: green;
}

See the updated fiddle for reference: http://jsfiddle.net/ambiguous/eDTdQ/

Alternatively, you can specify a width of 200px for #right_column, maintain the float, and add overflow: hidden to #box to ensure it expands to contain its floated children:

#box {
    background-color: red;
    overflow: hidden;
}
#right_column{
    background-color: green;
    float: left;
    width: 200px;
}

Live demonstration of this approach: http://jsfiddle.net/ambiguous/eDTdQ/2/

For a situation where the right column should stretch automatically and both columns need to be full-height, you can opt for absolute positioning of the left column instead of floating it:

#box {
    background-color: red;
    position: relative;
}
#left_column {
    width: 200px;
    background-color: blue;
    position: absolute;
    top: 0;
    left: 0;
    bottom: 0;
}

Live demonstration: http://jsfiddle.net/ambiguous/3Cxe3/

Answer №2

check out this link: http://jsfiddle.net/LzNuN/3/ Make sure to include the margin in the total width calculation - the margin-left of the right column should be considered in relation to the parent container, not the left column. For example, if your total width is 400px, with the left column being 200px and the right column also 200px, there won't be any space for adding margins.

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