<ul> height when containing floating <li>

Question

I have a list:

<ul>  <li>Number 1</li>  <li>Number 2</li>  <li>Number 3</li>  ... </ul> 

All the <li> are floating. I need the height of the <ul> box. If I remember correctly this is not valid:

<ul>  <li>Number 1</li>  <li>Number 2</li>  <li>Number 3</li>  ...  <hr class="clear" /> </ul>  .clear {    clear: both; } 

How can I do this? The number of items in the list can be different so I can't use fixed height.

Answer 1

Good options to contain the floats:

• Add overflow: hidden to the ul.
• Use clearfix.

Answer 2

This isn't a direct answer to your question, but as an alternative could you consider using display:inline-block? These days I just use that instead of float where possible, as essentially most of the time it can achieve the same sort of objective without the total hassle of making containers properly contain inner floating elements and having to clear them all the time.