When the children within a CSS container are floated, set the height of the container to

Question

When the children within a CSS container are floated, set the height of the container to

I've established a simple layout

<div class="container">
    <div class="sidebar">
    </div>
    <div class="content">
    </div>
    <div style="clear:both;"></div>
</div>

where .sidebar and .content are styled with float: left

I have searched through numerous responses on S.O., but they all seem to work ONLY IF the .content does not exceed the screen size. To emphasize my issue, I present two examples:

http://jsfiddle.net/pleasedontbelong/h35vc/2/ (small content) http://jsfiddle.net/pleasedontbelong/56C9v/1/ (big content)

When the .content div is too large, the height:100% property in the container fails to function.

In both scenarios, the gray div should fill 100% of the height. It appears that the browser computes the window height prior to floating the elements.

Is there a CSS-only solution to this problem? (I could resort to JS, but it feels unclean)

css height

Answer 1

Answer №1

Get rid of the height attribute

.box{
    background-color: #555;
    margin: 10px;
    //no height specified
}

PREVIEW http://jsbin.com/45C8u/8/

If you want the box to always take up 100% then set min-height: 100% like so

.box{
        background-color: #555;
        margin: 10px;
        min-height: 100%;
    }

Answer 2

Get rid of the height attribute

.box{
    background-color: #555;
    margin: 10px;
    //no height specified
}

PREVIEW http://jsbin.com/45C8u/8/

If you want the box to always take up 100% then set min-height: 100% like so

.box{
        background-color: #555;
        margin: 10px;
        min-height: 100%;
    }

Answer 3

Answer №2

It seems like you're trying to ensure that the container/content never exceeds 100% of the screen height.

To achieve this, simply include overflow:hidden; in your container CSS.

If you need more details on the overflow property, you can check out: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/overflow

Answer 4

It seems like you're trying to ensure that the container/content never exceeds 100% of the screen height.

To achieve this, simply include overflow:hidden; in your container CSS.

If you need more details on the overflow property, you can check out: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/overflow

Answer 5

Answer №3

Remove the fixed heights and add overflow:auto to your container.

Check out this example on jsFiddle (larger size)

View another example on jsFiddle (smaller size)

Answer 6

Remove the fixed heights and add overflow:auto to your container.

Check out this example on jsFiddle (larger size)

View another example on jsFiddle (smaller size)

Answer 7

Answer №4

It seems like you're looking to make the container always 100% of the document's height, while also ensuring that floats stretch down without increasing the container's height.

To prevent the body from exceeding 100% height due to margins, you can do the following:

html, body {
  height: 100%;
  margin: 0;
}

If your container has padding that exceeds 100% height, you can use the border-box property as follows:

.container{
  background-color: #999;
  padding: 20px;
  height: 100%;
  box-sizing: border-box;
}

To ensure that floats are 100% height and handle text overflow with a scroll bar, use the following CSS:

.sidebar, .content {
  height: 100%;
  overflow: auto;
}

Does this solution align with what you had in mind? Check out a demo here.

Answer 8

It seems like you're looking to make the container always 100% of the document's height, while also ensuring that floats stretch down without increasing the container's height.

To prevent the body from exceeding 100% height due to margins, you can do the following:

html, body {
  height: 100%;
  margin: 0;
}

If your container has padding that exceeds 100% height, you can use the border-box property as follows:

.container{
  background-color: #999;
  padding: 20px;
  height: 100%;
  box-sizing: border-box;
}

To ensure that floats are 100% height and handle text overflow with a scroll bar, use the following CSS:

.sidebar, .content {
  height: 100%;
  overflow: auto;
}

Does this solution align with what you had in mind? Check out a demo here.

When the children within a CSS container are floated, set the height of the container to

Answer №1

Answer №2

Answer №3

Answer №4

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