Keep footer at the bottom of the page (with scrolling if needed)

Question

I'm trying to show a footer at the bottom of my pages. And if the page is longer then 1 screen I like the footer to only show after scrolling to the bottom. So I can't use 'position: fixed', because then it will always show.

I'm trying to copy the following example: http://peterned.home.xs4all.nl/examples/csslayout1.html

However when I use the following, the footer is showing halfway my long page for some reason.

position: absolute; bottom:0 

I have both short pages and long pages and I would like it to be at the bottom of both of them.

How can I keep the footer at the bottom on a long page as well?

Fiddle

I've created these Fiddles to show the problem and test the code. Please post a working example with your solution.

• Short page

• Long page

My footer css:

html,body {
    margin:0;
    padding:0;
    height:100%; /* needed for container min-height */
}

.content {
    position:relative; /* needed for footer positioning*/
    margin:0 auto; /* center, not in IE5 */

    height:auto !important; /* real browsers */
    height:100%; /* IE6: treaded as min-height*/

    min-height:100%; /* real browsers */
}

/* --- Footer --- */
.footerbar {                                position: absolute;
                                            width: 100%;
                                            bottom: 0;

                                            color: white;
                                            background-color: #202020;
                                            font-size: 12px; }

a.nav-footer:link,
a.nav-footer:visited {                      color: white !important; }
a.nav-footer:hover, 
a.nav-footer:focus {                        color: black !important;
                                            background-color: #E7E7E7 !important; }

Answer 1

I would suggest the "sticky footer" approach. See the following link:

http://css-tricks.com/snippets/css/sticky-footer/

Answer 2

Replace Height with overflow:auto; & give body a position

html,body {
    position:relative; <!--Also give it a position -->
    margin:0;
    padding:0;
    overflow:auto; <!-- HERE -->
}

Position the footer to be relative to body

/* --- Footer --- */
.footerbar { 
    position: relative; <!-- HERE -->
    width: 100%;
    bottom: 0;
    color: white;
    background-color: #202020;
    font-size: 12px; 
}

It at all possible it is always better to relatively position your elements, especially your main elements, like footers in this case.

Short Page Edit

min-height:400px; <!-- Give this a real number like 400px 
                  or whatever you want...dont leave it to 100% as -->
}