2 columns 100% height using HTML

Question

I'm in despair trying to draw this simple thing. Two columns stretching 100% vertically. Is this ever possible?

here there are two tries

<html>
<head>
<title>Columns</title>
</head>
<body>
<style type="text/css">
.wrapper {font-size:900px;
width:1200px;
margin:0 auto;
}
.col1 {
width:600px;
height:100%;
float:left;
background:#f00;
}
.col2 {
width:600px;
height:100%;
float:left;
background:#00f;
}
</style>
<div class="wrapper">
<div class="col1"> C o l u m n 1 </div>
<div class="col2"> C ol u m n 2 </div>
</div>
</body>
</html>

and

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en-GB">
<head>
    <title>2 Column CSS Demo - Equal Height Columns with Cross-Browser CSS</title>

    <style media="screen" type="text/css">
/* <!-- */
*{
    margin:0;
    padding:0;
}

   html { 
    background-color: #ccc; 
        height: 100%; 
   } 
   body { 
    background-color: white; 
    width: 600px; 
    margin: 0 auto; 
height:100%; 
    position: relative; 
    border-left: 1px solid #888; 
    border-right: 2px solid black; 
   }  

#footer {
    clear:both;
    width:100%;
    height:0px;font-size:0px;
}


#container2 {


    clear:left;
    float:left;
    width:600px;
        overflow:hidden;
    background:#ffa7a7;  
}



#container1 {

    float:left;
    width:600px;
    position:relative;
    right:200px;
    background:#fff689;  
}
#col1 {
    float:left;
    width:400px;
    position:relative;
    left:200px;
        overflow:hidden;
}
#col2 {
    float:left;
    width:200px;
    position:relative;
    left:200px;
        overflow:hidden;
}
/* --> */
    </style>
</head>
<body>

<div id="container2">
    <div id="container1">
        <div id="col1">
            aaaa a a a a a a a a a aa aa a a a a a a a a aa aa a a a a a a a a aa aa a a a a  a a a aa a a a a aa aa a a a a a a a a aa aa a a a a a a a a aa aa a a a a aa a a a a aa aa a
        </div>
        <div id="col2">

            fghdfghsfgddn   fghdfghsfgddn    fghdfghsfgddn  fghdfghsfgddn   fghdfghsfgddn   fghdfghsfgddn   fghdfghsfgddn v
        </div>
    </div>
</div>
<div id="footer">
     &nbsp;
</div>
</body>

One more

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd">
<html>
<head>

<title>Test Layout</title>
<meta http-equiv="content-type"
content="text/html;charset=utf-8" />
<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" />

<style type="text/css">
/*primary positional elements */
html, body{ height:100%; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;}
body {margin:0; padding:0; background:url(../images/top_grid.gif) repeat-x top right; font-size:small; }

#wrapper{position:absolute; margin:0;left:50%;margin-left:-499px; height:100%; min-height:100%; width:998px;}
html>body #wrapper{height:auto;} /*for mozilla as IE treats height as min-height anyway*/

#header{ position:absolute; margin:0; left:50%; margin-left:-499px;width:1000px;height:140px; background:url(../images/header.gif); background-color:#00FF66;z-index:99;}
#header a{display:block; position:absolute; top:40px; left:20px; height:80px; width:400px;}
#header a span{display:none;}

#main{ position:absolute; margin:0;left:50%;margin-left:-499px; height:100%; min-height:100%;width:1000px;padding:0;background:url(../images/background.gif) no-repeat top left yellow; z-index:1; border-left:1px solid #82A4E1; border-right:1px solid #82A4E1;}
html>body #main{height:auto; width:998px;} /*for mozilla as IE treats height as min-height anyway and to fix IE box model error*/

#left_col, #right_col{ position:absolute; margin:0; top:0; padding:0; height:100%; width:212px;border-left:1px solid #82A4E1; border-right:1px solid #82A4E1; z-index:3; background:url(../images/left_side_gradient.gif) repeat-x bottom right #ACB5E7;
}

#left_col{ left:20px;}
#right_col{ right:20px }
/*IE box model fix */
html>body #right_col{ width:210px; }
html>body #left_col{ width:210px; }
#left_col #menu{margin-top:195px;}

.col_top{ position:absolute; top:140px; left:-1px;background-image:url(../images/column_tops.gif);height:45px; width:212px;}
.clear_header{ height:155px; }
.menu_clear{ height:195px; }

#content{ padding:0 250px; height:100%; z-index:2; }

/* Announcments section */
#announcements{ text-align:right; }
#announcements ul{list-style-type:none; padding:0; margin:0;}
#announcements li{ padding:5px 15px 5px 15px;}
#announcements li a{ color:#1B3AA9;}
#announcements li a:hover{font-weight:bold; padding-left:-13px;}
#announcements h1{ font-size:18px; margin:0; padding:5px 15px 0 15px;}

.date{ display:block; font-weight:bolder;}
.column_img img{ border-bottom:1px solid white; border-top:1px solid white; }
#content h1{margin:.25em 0;}
#content p{margin:0 0 1em 0;}

/* nav block elements */
#nav {}
#nav, #nav ul { margin: 0; padding: 0; list-style: none; }
#nav ul { border-bottom:1px solid #fff; border-top:1px solid #737AD7}
#nav { margin-bottom: 1em; }
#nav li { display: inline; padding: 0; margin: 0; }

#nav li span {
display: block;
padding: 6px 10px;
font-weight: bold;
color: #666;
}

#nav li span#configParent, #nav li span #configuration {
display: inline;
font-weight: normal;
padding: 0;
}

#nav li a {
display: block;
padding: 8px 10px;
text-decoration: none;
border-bottom: 1px solid #737AD7;
border-top: 1px solid #fff;
font-weight:bold;
color:#1B3AA9;
}

#nav li a:hover {
background: #EBF1FF;
color:black;
}

#nav li li a {
padding: 3px 8px 3px 20px;
border:0;

}

#nav li ul{
border-bottom: 1px solid #737AD7;
border-top: 1px solid #fff;
}

#nav li li li a {
padding: 2px 8px 2px 40px;
border:0;
font-weight:normal;

font-size:90%;
}

#nav li li ul{
background:0;
border:0;
}

#nav .selected{
text-decoration:none;
background-color: #E0E2F7;
}
#nav .selected:hover {
text-decoration:underline;
}

#nav li li .selected{
text-decoration:underline;
background:0;
}
</style></head>

<body>
<div id="main">
<div id="left_col">
<div class="menu_clear"></div>

<div class="col_top"></div>
<div id="nav">
<ul>
<li><a href="">Menu Item 1</a></li>
<li><a href="">Menu Item 2</a></li>
<li><a href="">Menu Item 2</a></li>
<li><a href="">Menu Item 2</a></li>
<li><a class="selected" href="">Active Item</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="">Submenu Item</a></li>
<li><a class="selected" href="">Active Item</a>

<ul>
<li><a href="">Menu Item 1</a></li>
<li><a href="">Menu Item 2</a></li>
<li><a href="">Menu Item 2</a></li>
<li><a href="">Menu Item 2</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="">Submenu Item 2</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="">Menu Item 3</a></li>
</ul>

</div>
</div>

<div id="right_col">
<div class="menu_clear"></div>
<div class="col_top"></div>
<div class="column_img">
<img src="images/pictures/students.jpg" alt="Students working" />
</div>
<div id="announcements">
<h1>Announcements</h1>
<ul>
<li><span class="date">Jan. 31 2005</span><a href="">Nam liber tempor cum </a></li>
<li><span class="date">Jan. 31 2005</span><a href="">Workshop Announcement</a></li>

<li><span class="date">Jan. 31 2005</span><a href="">soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet</a></li>
<li><span class="date">Jan. 31 2005</span><a href=""> doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum</a></li>
<li><span class="date">Jan. 31 2005</span><a href=""> doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>

<div id="content">
<div class="clear_header"></div>

<h1>Welcome to the New Website</h1>
<p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum. Typi non habent claritatem insitam; est usus legentis in iis qui facit eorum claritatem. Investigationes demonstraverunt lectores legere me lius quod ii legunt saepius. Claritas est etiam processus dynamicus, qui sequitur mutationem consuetudium lectorum. Mirum est notare quam littera gothica, quam nunc putamus parum claram, anteposuerit litterarum formas humanitatis per seacula quarta decima et quinta decima. Eodem modo typi, qui nunc nobis videntur parum clari, fiant sollemnes in futurum.</p>

</div>
</div>
<div id="header"><a href="http://www.#*$!xxxxxxx.org/"><span>Home</span></a></div>
</body></html>

The third one does not work when the content is too big to fit the browsers window. Try to make window small and scroll down

jball · Accepted Answer

What you're looking for are the so-called "Holy Grail" column layouts. For example, Matthew James Taylor has developed a robust set, including The Perfect 'Double Page' 2 Column Liquid Layout (Percentage widths) which should (with possibly some tweaking) meet your requirements.

sepulturkey · Answer

I'm an advocate for balance. It's ok to use tables when it makes sense, like in this case. What is the point of using divs if they have to be constructed so rigidly?

Know when to hold em, know when to fold em.

2 columns 100% height using HTML

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css

user345161

2 Answers

jball

sepulturkey

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2 columns 100% height using HTML

Tags:

css

user345161

2 Answers

jball

sepulturkey

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