Why is it that using div with a 100% width doesn't behave as one would anticipate?

Question

Why is it that using div with a 100% width doesn't behave as one would anticipate?

Learning CSS has been an interesting journey so far. It's not always as intuitive as one might think, especially in web development. :)

I recently attempted to create a simple, static progress bar using the following HTML file:

<html>
  <head></head>
  <body>
    <table border='1' cellspacing='0'>
      <tr>
        <td>Sample Cell</td>
        <td>
          <!-- This is meant to be a progress bar -->
          <div style="background-color: #0a0; width: 20%;">
            <div style="text-align: center; width: 300px;">
              Text Here!
            </div>
          </div>
        </td>
      </tr>
    </table>
  </body>
</html>

The result looks promising, however, I noticed that the width of the second column is fixed. When I tried changing width: 300px to width: 100%, the text ended up inside the green box rather than filling the entire table cell.

I'm now wondering how I can make the text fill the whole table cell without specifying a specific length restriction. Any suggestions?

html css html-table

Answer 1

Answer №1

When you nest your text div inside a colored div, you are indicating to HTML that the text should be contained within the colored div. This means that setting a width of 100% on the inner div will make it match the width of its parent div, which in this case is set to 20%.

UPDATE: added code *UPDATE: revised code*

<html>
<head>
    <style>
        #bar{
            width: 100%;
            position: relative;
        }

        #progress{
            background-color: #0a0;
            width: 20%;
            position: absolute;
            z-index: 0;
        }

        #progress_text{
            text-align: center;
            width: 100%;
            position: relative;
            z-index:1;
        }
        .progress_cell{

        }

    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <table border='1' cellspacing='0'>
      <tr>
        <td>Sample Cell</td>
        <td class="progress_cell">
          <div id="bar">
             <!-- This is meant to be a progress bar -->
             <div id="progress">
               &nbsp;
             </div>
             <div id="progress_text">
                  Text Here! Text Here! However, it might be too long and cause an overflow...
             </div>
          </div>
        </td>
      </tr>
    </table>
  </body>
</html>

Answer 2

When you nest your text div inside a colored div, you are indicating to HTML that the text should be contained within the colored div. This means that setting a width of 100% on the inner div will make it match the width of its parent div, which in this case is set to 20%.

UPDATE: added code *UPDATE: revised code*

<html>
<head>
    <style>
        #bar{
            width: 100%;
            position: relative;
        }

        #progress{
            background-color: #0a0;
            width: 20%;
            position: absolute;
            z-index: 0;
        }

        #progress_text{
            text-align: center;
            width: 100%;
            position: relative;
            z-index:1;
        }
        .progress_cell{

        }

    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <table border='1' cellspacing='0'>
      <tr>
        <td>Sample Cell</td>
        <td class="progress_cell">
          <div id="bar">
             <!-- This is meant to be a progress bar -->
             <div id="progress">
               &nbsp;
             </div>
             <div id="progress_text">
                  Text Here! Text Here! However, it might be too long and cause an overflow...
             </div>
          </div>
        </td>
      </tr>
    </table>
  </body>
</html>

Answer 3

Answer №2

Introducing you to the basics of HTML/CSS. Don't forget to thank me later when you see my bill ;). Remember, tables should be used for tabular data, not layout.

#wrapper {
    position:absolute;
    top:10px;
    left:50%;
    width:900px;
    height:500px;
    margin:0px auto 0px -450px;
    padding:0px;
    background-color:#369;
}

#box_1 {
    width:100%;
    height:100px;
    margin:0px auto;
    padding:0px;
    background-color:red;
}

And here's the sample HTML code...

<html>
    <head>
    </head>
    <body>
        <div id="wrapper">
            <div id="box_1">
                <p>Content goes here</p>
            </div>
        </div>
    </body>
</html>

I hope this information helps you kickstart your journey into web development.

Answer 4

Introducing you to the basics of HTML/CSS. Don't forget to thank me later when you see my bill ;). Remember, tables should be used for tabular data, not layout.

#wrapper {
    position:absolute;
    top:10px;
    left:50%;
    width:900px;
    height:500px;
    margin:0px auto 0px -450px;
    padding:0px;
    background-color:#369;
}

#box_1 {
    width:100%;
    height:100px;
    margin:0px auto;
    padding:0px;
    background-color:red;
}

And here's the sample HTML code...

<html>
    <head>
    </head>
    <body>
        <div id="wrapper">
            <div id="box_1">
                <p>Content goes here</p>
            </div>
        </div>
    </body>
</html>

I hope this information helps you kickstart your journey into web development.

Answer 5

Answer №3

When you specify a width in percentage, the element will take up that percentage of its parent element's width. In this scenario, the div is inheriting the width of its parent element, which is the td.

Answer 6

When you specify a width in percentage, the element will take up that percentage of its parent element's width. In this scenario, the div is inheriting the width of its parent element, which is the td.

Answer 7

Answer №4

Check out this possible solution?

http://codepen.io/xyz123

Answer 8

Check out this possible solution?

http://codepen.io/xyz123

Why is it that using div with a 100% width doesn't behave as one would anticipate?

Answer №1

Answer №2

Answer №3

Answer №4

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