Essentially, in my attempt to create a four-column layout, I have the following HTML code:
<div>
<div>A column</div>
<div>A column</div>
<div>A column</div>
<div>A column</div>
</div>
Accompanied by this CSS code:
div {
background: #ccc;
}
div div {
background: #eee;
display: inline-block;
width: 25%;
}
-> Check out the Fiddle here <-
In the browser rendering (I am currently using Chrome for testing), the whitespace between the nested div elements causes an issue with the layout.
To resolve this, I can float the nested divs...
div {
background: #ccc;
}
div div {
background: #eee;
width: 25%;
float: left;
}
-> Take a look at this other Fiddle <-
However, floating the divs results in the container collapsing, which is not desired. Using CSS clearfix hacks or extra HTML tags to fix this seems like a less than ideal solution.
An alternative approach is to modify the HTML to remove the whitespace...
<div><div>A column</div><div>A column</div><div>A column</div><div>A column</div></div>
Although this makes it harder to work with and maintain the code. Breaking the tags for better readability feels awkward somehow...
<div>
<div>A column</
div><div>A column</
div><div>A column</
div><div>A column</div>
</div>
I have explored various resources and solutions, but many of them involve workarounds that I find unsatisfactory. Is there a cleaner way to prevent html whitespace from impacting the layout when using display:inline-block? Or perhaps an alternative to inline-block without negative side effects?
EDIT
If achieving this goal is truly impossible, the ideal solution would be one that allows seamless editing of HTML without additional markup requirements. Essentially, a webmaster can freely make changes to the HTML without affecting the layout, thanks to flexible CSS adjustments.
MY "WORKAROUND"
Given the constraints, I have decided to implement a CSS hack to address the whitespace issue invisibly. By floating the nested divs and applying a specific hack, the layout stays intact without needing extra markup.
div div {
float: left;
}
div::before,
div::after {
content: "";
display: table;
}
div::after {
clear: both;
}
div {
*zoom: 1;
}
This refined version of the fix, derived from a well-known method, aims to minimize potential side effects across all div elements, which I will monitor closely moving forward.