Is it possible to create a fluid-width layout with two columns that also spans the full

I have searched tirelessly through Google and stackoverflow, but I can't seem to find a solution to my specific problem. I need help creating a container div that can hold either one or two columns. The content is generated by a CMS and may or may not include both columns.

If the left column (nav rail) exists, it should take up 200px on the left side, while the right column will occupy the remaining width. If there is no nav rail, then the right column should span the entire width of the container.

The issue I am facing is getting the height to adjust properly for the left nav rail when it is present.

Here is what I'm aiming for:

And here is the desired layout when the left nav is absent:

To achieve this, I adjusted the widths of the columns accordingly:

#container {
    margin: 0 auto;
    overflow: hidden;
    width: 960px;
}
#left-col {
    float: left;
    width: 188px;
    background-color: #d7d7d7;
    padding-bottom: 500em;
    margin-bottom: -500em;
}
#right-col {
    float: left;
    width: 722px;
    margin-right: -1px; /* Thank you IE */
    background-color: red;
    padding-bottom: 500em;
    margin-bottom: -500em;
}

<body>
<div id="container">
    <div id="left-col">
        <p>Left Rail Nav</p>
    </div>
    <div id="right-col">
        <p>Primary content</p>
        <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nullam in rutrum est. Nulla nec tempor erat. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Proin sodales arcu quis neque semper porttitor quis vitae justo. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.</p>
        <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nullam in rutrum est. Nulla nec tempor erat. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Proin sodales arcu quis neque semper porttitor quis vitae justo. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.</p>
        <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nullam in rutrum est. Nulla nec tempor erat. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Proin sodales arcu quis neque semper porttitor quis vitae justo. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.</p>
        <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nullam in rutrum est. Nulla nec tempor erat. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Proin sodales arcu quis neque semper porttitor quis vitae justo. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.</p>
        <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nullam in rutrum est. Nulla nec tempor erat. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Proin sodales arcu quis neque semper porttitor quis vitae justo. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.</p>
    </div>
</div>

My issue arises when trying to make the width of the right column 100% when there is no left nav included. When setting the width to 100%, it affects the layout negatively.

Changing the right column width :

#right-col {
    float: left;
    width: 100%;
    margin-right: -1px; /* Thank you IE */
    background-color: red;
    padding-bottom: 500em;
    margin-bottom: -500em;
}

Resulting in:

I believe there should be a CSS-only solution for this, without relying on JavaScript. Is such a solution possible?

One might assume that floating the divs and setting a height of 100% would suffice, but that does not seem to work as intended.

csshtmlcss-floatheightwidth

Answer №1

One workaround for this issue could be setting both columns to have a style of display: table-cell and eliminating the width property from the right column (as well as removing margins and paddings from both).

The only downside is that this solution may not work on older versions of Internet Explorer.

Answer №2

Building on @jeroen's insightful answer, I wanted to provide some additional details. Many thanks to @jeroen for the guidance.

To achieve the desired layout across all browsers except IE, we utilized the CSS property display: table-cell;, as suggested by @jeroen.

This modified the CSS as follows:

#container {
    margin: 0 auto;
    overflow: hidden;
    width: 960px;
}
#left-col {
    width: 188px;
    display: table-cell;
    background-color: #d7d7d7;
}
#right-col {
    display: table-cell;
    background-color: red;
}

The HTML structure remained unchanged:

<body>
<div id="container">
    <div id="left-col">
        <p>Left Rail Nav</p>
    </div>
    <div id="right-col">
        <p>Primary content</p>
        <p>Lorem ipsum dolor... (content continues) ...</p>
    </div>
</div>

To ensure consistent rendering in all browsers, we had to make a specific adjustment for IE:

<!--[if IE]>
    <style type="text/css">
        #left-col { display: block; float: left; width: 188px; }
        #right-col { display: block; float: left; }
    </style>
<![endif]-->

This workaround effectively met our requirements and allowed for seamless dynamic content integration without resorting to post-document load DOM manipulation using JavaScript (jQuery). This cleaner approach may prove helpful to others facing similar challenges.

Answer №3

For example, using the CSS code 

html, body, #container, #left-col, #right-col { height: 100%; }
would be a suitable solution.

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