CSS styling for a container element that enables word wrapping on child divs, while also being able to stretch to accommodate the width of its children

Question

CSS styling for a container element that enables word wrapping on child divs, while also being able to stretch to accommodate the width of its children

Is it feasible to create CSS that allows an element to support word-wrap:break-word, while also adjusting its width to fit the content when breaking is not possible?

<html>
  <style>
  .outer {
    background-color:red;
    word-wrap:break-word;
  }
  </style>
  <div class="outer">
    User generated content:
    <a href="http://www.google.com">http://anannoyinglylongurlthatcausesthepagetogrowtolongunlessIusewordwrapbreakwordasdfasfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfsadfasdfadsf</a>
    <table>
      <tr>
        <td>asdfasdfadsffdsasdfasdfsadfafsd</td>
        <td>asdfasdfadsffdaasdfassdffaafasds</td>
      </tr>
    </table>
    <img src="http://www.google.com/intl/en_com/images/srpr/logo3w.png"/>
  </div>
</html>

In the provided example, the URL breaks correctly, but the table and image overflow the red outer div if the window width decreases.

Changing the outer div to display:inline-block or display:table causes it to adjust properly to accommodate the content, but the URL no longer breaks if the window is narrower than the URL.

This solution needs to be specific to WebKit (on Android) and should ideally be achieved through CSS only, without relying on Javascript.

css webkit word-break

Answer 1

Answer №1

If I have correctly understood your requirements, all that is needed is to set overflow: auto on the .outer element. Check out this example: http://jsfiddle.net/hgLbh/1/ (tested on both safari and chrome).

Update:

After considering your comment regarding scrolling, I explored alternative solutions and I found one that addresses that issue as well. It may not be the cleanest solution, but it seems to work (at least in my local safari).

The workaround involves duplicating your content and enclosing the duplicate within two additional div elements. Consequently, the HTML structure will resemble:

<div class="outer-fixed">
    <div class="just-a-helper-wrapper">
        ... original user-generated content
    </div>
</div>
<div class="outer">
    ... same original user-generated content
</div>

As for the CSS:

.outer,
.outer-fixed {
    background-color: red;
    word-wrap: break-word;
    position: absolute;
    left: 0;
    right: 0;
}

.outer-fixed {
    position: fixed;
    right: 0;
}
.outer-fixed * {
    visibility: hidden;
}

It's worth noting that the use of `just-a-helper-wrapper` is essential because `outer-fixed *` does not target text nodes directly. For instance, the text "User-generated content:" from your example would still be visible if not for this additional wrapper. You can remove it if such content is not present.

Here's the updated link: http://jsfiddle.net/hgLbh/2/

Answer 2

If I have correctly understood your requirements, all that is needed is to set overflow: auto on the .outer element. Check out this example: http://jsfiddle.net/hgLbh/1/ (tested on both safari and chrome).

Update:

After considering your comment regarding scrolling, I explored alternative solutions and I found one that addresses that issue as well. It may not be the cleanest solution, but it seems to work (at least in my local safari).

The workaround involves duplicating your content and enclosing the duplicate within two additional div elements. Consequently, the HTML structure will resemble:

<div class="outer-fixed">
    <div class="just-a-helper-wrapper">
        ... original user-generated content
    </div>
</div>
<div class="outer">
    ... same original user-generated content
</div>

As for the CSS:

.outer,
.outer-fixed {
    background-color: red;
    word-wrap: break-word;
    position: absolute;
    left: 0;
    right: 0;
}

.outer-fixed {
    position: fixed;
    right: 0;
}
.outer-fixed * {
    visibility: hidden;
}

It's worth noting that the use of `just-a-helper-wrapper` is essential because `outer-fixed *` does not target text nodes directly. For instance, the text "User-generated content:" from your example would still be visible if not for this additional wrapper. You can remove it if such content is not present.

Here's the updated link: http://jsfiddle.net/hgLbh/2/

Answer 3

Answer №2

By setting width: 100%; and applying table-layout: fixed;, the td cells are constrained to fit within the table, facilitating text wrapping.

  table {
        width:100%;
        table-layout:fixed
      }

Answer 4

By setting width: 100%; and applying table-layout: fixed;, the td cells are constrained to fit within the table, facilitating text wrapping.

  table {
        width:100%;
        table-layout:fixed
      }

Answer 5

Answer №3

I'm not sure how it will behave on mobile webkit, but this code snippet worked perfectly in Chrome.

Check out the code here

.outer {
    background-color:red;
    word-wrap:break-word;
    overflow:hidden;
  }

.outer table {
    width: 100%;
    table-layout:fixed
}

.outer * {
    max-width: 100%;
}

Answer 6

I'm not sure how it will behave on mobile webkit, but this code snippet worked perfectly in Chrome.

Check out the code here

.outer {
    background-color:red;
    word-wrap:break-word;
    overflow:hidden;
  }

.outer table {
    width: 100%;
    table-layout:fixed
}

.outer * {
    max-width: 100%;
}

Answer 7

Answer №4

It appears that draevor may have found the solution, although it seems like you're hoping to avoid a scrollbar appearing in the middle of the screen within the div element. If this is the case, and depending on your specific restrictions, you could experiment with this approach to turn the div into a viewport:

Custom CSS

html {height: 100%}
body {overflow: auto; height: 100%; margin: 0;}
.outer {
    word-wrap: break-word; 
    background-color: red;
    overflow: auto;
    min-height: 100%;
}

Answer 8

It appears that draevor may have found the solution, although it seems like you're hoping to avoid a scrollbar appearing in the middle of the screen within the div element. If this is the case, and depending on your specific restrictions, you could experiment with this approach to turn the div into a viewport:

Custom CSS

html {height: 100%}
body {overflow: auto; height: 100%; margin: 0;}
.outer {
    word-wrap: break-word; 
    background-color: red;
    overflow: auto;
    min-height: 100%;
}

Answer 9

Answer №5

After delving into the depths of the CSS specification, it seems that achieving my desired outcome may be a challenging task due to the complexity of size calculations. Here are some key insights I gathered:

http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/visudet.html

The content width of a non-replaced inline element's boxes is determined by the rendered content within them.

To ensure that the background of my containing box expands to match the width of its children, it seems crucial to establish an inline formatting context for its layout:

http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/visuren.html#normal-flow

In cases where an inline box exceeds the width of a line box, it gets split into multiple boxes distributed across different line boxes. If splitting is not possible, the box overflows the line box.

It would be beneficial if the breaking rules also account for emergency wrapping scenarios.

http://www.w3.org/TR/2010/WD-css3-text-20101005/#word-wrap

This property determines whether the UA can break within a word to prevent overflow when dealing with excessively long unbreakable strings.

Unfortunately, the clarity provided by this information is limited. Let's explore the newer draft spec:

http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-text/#overflow-wrap

Break opportunities beyond 'overflow-wrap: normal' line breaking do not factor into calculating 'min-content' intrinsic sizes.

Although somewhat ambiguous, if 'min-content' intrinsic sizes are linked to the same calculations determining line-breaking possibilities, my prospects may be dim.

In the end, resorting to JavaScript became necessary to measure the content and make decisions regarding displaying it in block or inline context. A bit disheartening, but practical nonetheless.

var messages = document.body.getElementsByClassName('mail_uncollapsed');

// Show overflowing content by setting element display to inline-block. This
// prevents break-word from being applied to the element, so we only do this
// if the element would overflow anyway.
for (var i = 0; i < messages.length; ++i) {
  var message = messages[i];
  message.style.display = 'block';
  var isOverflowing = message.clientWidth < message.scrollWidth;
  if (isOverflowing) {
    message.style.display = 'inline-block';
  }
}

Answer 10

After delving into the depths of the CSS specification, it seems that achieving my desired outcome may be a challenging task due to the complexity of size calculations. Here are some key insights I gathered:

http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/visudet.html

The content width of a non-replaced inline element's boxes is determined by the rendered content within them.

To ensure that the background of my containing box expands to match the width of its children, it seems crucial to establish an inline formatting context for its layout:

http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/visuren.html#normal-flow

In cases where an inline box exceeds the width of a line box, it gets split into multiple boxes distributed across different line boxes. If splitting is not possible, the box overflows the line box.

It would be beneficial if the breaking rules also account for emergency wrapping scenarios.

http://www.w3.org/TR/2010/WD-css3-text-20101005/#word-wrap

This property determines whether the UA can break within a word to prevent overflow when dealing with excessively long unbreakable strings.

Unfortunately, the clarity provided by this information is limited. Let's explore the newer draft spec:

http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-text/#overflow-wrap

Break opportunities beyond 'overflow-wrap: normal' line breaking do not factor into calculating 'min-content' intrinsic sizes.

Although somewhat ambiguous, if 'min-content' intrinsic sizes are linked to the same calculations determining line-breaking possibilities, my prospects may be dim.

In the end, resorting to JavaScript became necessary to measure the content and make decisions regarding displaying it in block or inline context. A bit disheartening, but practical nonetheless.

var messages = document.body.getElementsByClassName('mail_uncollapsed');

// Show overflowing content by setting element display to inline-block. This
// prevents break-word from being applied to the element, so we only do this
// if the element would overflow anyway.
for (var i = 0; i < messages.length; ++i) {
  var message = messages[i];
  message.style.display = 'block';
  var isOverflowing = message.clientWidth < message.scrollWidth;
  if (isOverflowing) {
    message.style.display = 'inline-block';
  }
}

CSS styling for a container element that enables word wrapping on child divs, while also being able to stretch to accommodate the width of its children

Answer №1

Answer №2

Answer №3

Answer №4

Answer №5

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