Preventing Div Elements From Wrapping in a Fluid Navigation - css

Question

I have a top nav that extends across the page
Within that top nav I have various elements
two that must align left
one that must align right
The nav is fluid the elements are fixed widths
Do not want the elements to wrap when the browser window is minimized
Needs to work in IE6 on up due to high Chinese audience.
See example here:
http://jsfiddle.net/4SUwg/
<div id="header">
<div id="headerContent">
<div class="search-list"> Search List </div>
<div class="social-buttons"> Social </div>
<div class="signin"> Login Drop Down </div>
</div>
</div>
I would like the div elements within the nav to not wrap. I searched around on stack and could find answers that come close but nothing that completely addressed the issue. My need to have the div element aligned right complicates matters. Must work in all browsers, especially IE's.
Thanks all for your help in advance!!!

Answer 1

Use SPAN .. It's INLINE and not BLOCK ??
<div id="header">
<div id="headerContent">
<span class="search-list"> Search List </span>
<span class="social-buttons"> Social </span>
<span class="signin"> Login Drop Down </span>
</div>
</div>
And your CSS, remove floats
<style>
body {
margin:0;
padding:0;
}
#header {
background: #404040;
height: 35px;
color: white;
margin: 0 0 12px 0;
overflow-x:auto; overflow-y:hidden;
}
#headerContent {
height: 32px;
border:1px dashed #fff;
}
.search-list {
width:150px;
background:#039;
}
.social-buttons {
width:150px;
background:#060;
}
.signin {
width:200px;
background:#F00;
}

Answer 2

You want a fluid layout but the most important rule of a fluid layout is not to set a definite width of elements but you have set the width.
The CSS have a <style> tag, which is not required, probably you put it by mistake.
I have set the width of divs inside headerContent in percentage value. The CSS is
body {
margin:0;
padding:0;
}
#header {
background: #404040;
height: 35px;
color: white;
margin: 0 0 12px 0;
overflow-x:auto; overflow-y:hidden;
}
#headerContent {
height: 32px;
border:1px dashed #fff;
}
.search-list {
width:28%;
float:left;
background:#039;
}
.social-buttons {
width:28%;
float:left;
background:#060;
}
.signin {
width:28%;
float:right;
background:#F00;
}
Just changed the width value and on my browser it looked fine, better than the before version. Here's a fiddle http://jsfiddle.net/DeepakKamat/s52Hn/8/

Answer 3

I found a solution that works in all browsers, specifically IE6 on up since that was a requirement for this project. If you have something better that accomplishes the same thing please post! My sincere thanks to everyone who answered/helped.
<div id="header2">
<table id="headerContent2">
<tr>
<td id="left" valign="top">
<div id="leftWrapper">
<div class="search-list2">Search List</div>
<div class="social-buttons2">Social Buttons</div>
</div>
</td>
<td id="middle"> </td>
<td id="right" valign="top">
<div class="signin2">Login Drop Down</div>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
<style>
#header2 {
background: #404040;
height: 35px;
color: white;
margin: 0 0 12px 0;
}
#headerContent2 {
width:100%;
}
#headerContent2 td {
height: 32px;
padding:0;
margin:0;
}
.search-list2 {
width:150px;
float:left;
background:#039;
}
.social-buttons2 {
width:200px;
float:left;
background:#060;
}
.signin2 {
background:#F00;
float:right;
width:400px;
}
#leftWrapper {
width:400px;
}
#middle {
width:100%;
}
</style>
See Demo of it working here. Copy the code and try it out in all the IE's since JSfiddle does not work in all IE's.
http://jsfiddle.net/GtXKE/