How to make a sticky footer using flexbox in IE11?

Question

I'm trying to make a simple design with flexbox but I'm having trouble with IE11. Basically, I want a footer that sticks to the bottom only if the content is not high enough. I have no issue doing that with Chrome like this:

*,
*:after,
*:before {
  box-sizing: border-box;
}

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

body {
  display: flex;
  flex-direction: column;
}

main {
  flex: 1;
}

<header>
  Header
</header>
<main>
  <p>Main</p>
  <p>Main</p>
  <p>Main</p>
  <p>Main</p>
  <p>Main</p>
</main>
<footer>
  Footer
</footer>

Just play with the number of <p>main</p> to see the wrong behaviour with IE11.

Is there a way to achieve this without JavaScript?

Answer 1

IE has a min-height bug and needs display: flex on the flex column containers parent, in this case the html

Fiddle demo

Update your CSS like this

*,
*:after,
*:before {
  box-sizing: border-box;
}
html, body {
  margin: 0;
  display: flex;
}
body {
  flex-direction: column;
  min-height: 100vh;
}
main {
  flex-grow: 1;
}

<header>
  Header
</header>
<main>
  <p>Main</p>
  <p>Main</p>
  <p>Main</p>
  <p>Main</p>
  <p>Main</p>
</main>
<footer>
  Footer
</footer>

Answer 2

On main, instead of flex: 1 use flex: auto. That should be all you need.

---

The flex: 1 shorthand rule breaks down to:

• flex-grow: 1
• flex-shrink: 1
• flex-basis: 0

The flex: auto shorthand rule breaks down to:

• flex-grow: 1
• flex-shrink: 1
• flex-basis: auto

IE has trouble parsing flex-basis: 0.

More information:

• flex property not working in IE