Floating Columns: Left float must load before right float can start - css

I'm trying to create a two columns layout where there is one column floated left, and there are two DIVs floated right. The sum of the two right DIVs is a height that is less than the height of the left DIV. I think I'm missing some CSS that allows this to happen. As of right now the second right DIV is appearing below the end of the left DIVs because of the height difference.
It's probably easier to view the page itself to see the issue. I need to have the DIV close the end of the right content so that it appears that all of the text is within a box.
http://brimbar.com/no_crawl/RiverHollow/history.html
I can add a negative margin to accomplish this, but I'm assuming I'm going about this all wrong.

Un-float both (or all, if you plan to add more) of your righthand divs, put them inside a wrapper, and then give that wrapper a margin-left value equivalent to the width of your left div.
screenshot: http://easycaptures.com/fs/uploaded/677/0314515048.png
demo: http://jsbin.com/aviyok/1/edit
You should also remove the huge negative margin on your right content div; that breaks very easily.

Related

How do I stop my 2-column layout from pushing the right floating div below?

I have a simple 2 column layout within a centered background div.
The two columns are inside a larger div which is centered in the page. The issue is that the right column may be 1-2 pixels out and will be pushed to the bottom of the first div. How can I stop this from happening? I would prefer the second column to push outside to the right of the surrounding div.
A couple of options. You can float the left column left and the right column right. (If you do that, give the container overflow: hidden so that it wraps around the columns, and also make sure the combined widths of the columns are a bit less that the width of the container, to prevent the problem you are having and also to create a space between the two columns.)
Another option is not to float the main content column but instead (assuming it's the right column) to give it a large left margin that is slightly wider than the width of the left column. Then float the left column and just make sure it comes before the right column in the HTML.
there are other methods still, but these are perhaps the two most common.
It would be good to see your page code if more advice is needed.
The reason why the second column aligned bottom of the first column is because the sum for both column widths have exceed the size of that container, or maybe because you didn't applying floats (left/right) to that columns.
I would prefer the second column to push outside to the right of the
surrounding div
That means you want to put the column out from its container. You can apply negative value to achieve this.
Example:
.right{
position:relative; /* apply position relative */
right:-20px; /* out from the container by 20px on right */
}
Have a look at here http://jsfiddle.net/qiqiabaziz/RseAp.

Two column layout - content in second appears under first column thats floated

I have a two column layout with a parent div (container) and the two column divs inside. The left column is floated left with a width and the right column has a margin to the left which is the width of the left floated div + 20px. I want this second column to take up the rest of the width provided by the container.
The problem is that floated content placed in the second column and then cleared lower down appears under the first column, a white space appears that's the same height as the floated column. So in the screen shot the < p > tags would be floated left with the second clearing the first as an example.
How can this be fixed? I've included a link to an image as reference. I've used this technique before without problems so I'm not sure what's gone wrong.
Image of problem including CSS in use
Thanks for looking

2 column div layout: right column fixed width, left fluid, height relative to eachother

I want a layout with two columns, two divs, where the left one has fluid width and the right one has fixed width. So far so good - see jsfiddle below - however, the height of the right column must be in relation to the height of the left column. So that if I have some content in the fluid column and would resize the browser window, thereby increasing or decreasing the height of the left column, the right one should follow and getting the same height.
What I got so far: http://jsfiddle.net/henrikandersson/vnUdc/2/
Edit: Resolved, see comment below
Ah, the ol' two column layout. Unless you want to resort to JavaScript to track the height of one column to adjust the other, you're not going to be able to do it in the way you expect. Using height="100%" usually doesn't work in these situations, either.
What you can do is something like the old Faux Column technique. The div's don't resize, but you have a background image on the parent element that tiles vertically, giving the illusion of equal columns. Old school, yes, but effective.
You can use JavaScript to get the height of the left div, then set the right div to this height.
To get height of the left div:
var divHeight = document.getElementById('left').offsetHeight;
To set height of right div:
document.getElementById('right').style.height = divHeight+'px';
Your JSFiddle example fixed.
So, I got an answer to my question from #thirtydot (see comment above):
Do you need to support IE7? If not, you can use display: table-cell

div not floating along the preceding div with float property set to left

Which CSS rules explain the following sceanrio:
Assuming I have the following HTML CSS snippets
HTML:
<div id="main">
<div id="first">
first div float left
</div>
<div id="second">
second div does not have a float property set
and appears in a new line instead of next to
the first div
</div>
</div>
CSS:
#first
float: left
What I am wondering about is, why the second div floats next to the first div, only when its width is set. If I replace the second div with a paragraph, it also floats next the first div. So why does the second div only position next to the first one when its width is set or its own float property is set to float left?
By the way. I am not trying to achieve any sort of layout here. I am just trying to understand these particular behaviours of the div element and other block elements.
EDIT:
OK. First of all thanks for the answers. The problem I had was based on the fact that I did set the width of the first and the second div to the same value, so that the content of the second could not float around the first one. To sum things up, I guess it is important to know that elements with the float property set are taken put of the page flow and dont take up any space. Secondly one should remember only the content can flow around, not the actual div.
A <div> is a block level element which is 100% wide and has a line break before & after when it's within the normal content flow.
Technically, when you float a <div>, you're taking the element out of the normal flow so it no longer has a line-break before & after and also the other page content flows around it.
So why does the second div only position next to the first one when
its width is set or its own float property is set to float left?
Floated <div>'s will always appear side-by-side only if there's enough room to contain them side-by-side. Otherwise, the next floated <div> will wrap to a new line. This is because floated <div>'s are outside the content flow and defined to behave this way in the spec.
However, you've made some incorrect assumptions in your question about what happens when you set the width of the second (non-floated) <div>.
The second <div>, itself, is always underneath (meaning behind) the floated <div>. Whereas, the "content" of the second <div> always flows around the floated <div>. (see three examples below)
So whether or not you set the width of the second div, its content will still flow around the left floated div as you can see illustrated here in three examples. (For illustration purposes, the first <div> is red with 50% opacity and the second is blue with a thick green border.)
Fiddle with second div wider than first
Fiddle with no set width (100%) on second div
Fiddle with second div narrower than first
As you can see from all three examples above, despite the existence of the floated first <div>...
the second <div> always starts on the left edge of the screen despite the width of the second <div>.
the second <div> always starts on the top edge of the screen because there's no other page flow content above the second <div>.
the actual content of the second <div> flows around (to the right of) the floated first <div> only where there is enough room inside its container to allow it to flow around the floated <div>. Otherwise, it appears as if it's starting a new line where really only its content is continuing to flow around the bottom of the floated <div>.
W3C Spec: 9 Visual formatting model, 9.5 Floats
A float is a box that is shifted to the left or right on the current
line. The most interesting characteristic of a float (or "floated" or
"floating" box) is that content may flow along its side (or be
prohibited from doing so by the 'clear' property). Content flows down
the right side of a left-floated box and down the left side of a
right-floated box. The following is an introduction to float
positioning and content flow; the exact rules governing float behavior
are given in the description of the 'float' property.
A floated box is shifted to the left or right until its outer edge
touches the containing block edge or the outer edge of another float.
If there is a line box, the outer top of the floated box is aligned
with the top of the current line box.
If there is not enough horizontal room for the float, it is shifted
downward until either it fits or there are no more floats present.
Since a float is not in the flow, non-positioned block boxes created
before and after the float box flow vertically as if the float did not
exist. However, the current and subsequent line boxes created next to
the float are shortened as necessary to make room for the margin box
of the float.
And here are a whole bunch of examples...
W3C Spec: 9 Visual formatting model, 9.8 Comparison of normal flow, floats, and absolute positioning
What makes you believe the div's are floated next to each other? In reality they are not. It's only that their content shows up next to each other but that's not because DIV #second is to the left of the floated DIV. It doesn't matter if you set the width or not.
What in fact is happening is that the floated DIV #first is floated to the left. Because it's floated, it's taken out of the normal flow. This means that DIV #second is actually on the same place as where DIV #first is appearing. The content of DIV #second though is inline content and inline content always flows around floated elements. Even floated elements that are outside of the container. So DIV #second is underneath DIV #first but the content of DIV #second is floating around DIV #first.
To illustrate that, I've create this CSS:
#first { float: left; background-color: rgba(255,0,0,0.3); }
#second { background-color: rgba(0,255,0,1); }
Play with the alpha value of the RGBA() value (i.e. the last parameter, it can range from 0 to 1) of the background-color of DIV #first and you will see that DIV #second is in fact below DIV #first all the time
Unless you clear your floats, the next block level element will float next to the last float by default.
I'm not sure what you're trying to achieve here, but if you want #first to float, and #second to NOT float, the rule you'd want to add to #first is : clear:both
But, that's pretty silly, you might as well just remove the float properties completely if you want to stack them.
Block elements take 100% of the width of their parent element, so even if your first div is floated, the second div will take the width of his parent, thus falling on a second line. This is why if you specify a smaller width, it stands next to the first floated div.
The reason why it also works if you float the two divs is that floated element behave a bit more like inline-block elements, wich means they will only take the space needed for the content inside of them.
Bottom line is, if you want these two divs to stand next to each other, you should probably just float the two of them.

a span floated right within a div - why a new line in IE?

I have 1 span within a container div. I want the span floated to the right. The content within the div and the span should be on one line.
In Firefox, that's how it displays.
But in IE, the span is displayed on a new line:
http://i48.tinypic.com/etzg5f.png
Why do the browsers display the content differently?
You should float the other content to the left. So have two floats; left and right.
Another approach could be using position absolute on the span, andposition relative on the surrounding div. Then you could put the positions (top, left, right and bottom) and position the elements as you should!
You could probably get away with specifying a width on your .catalogSelection#top #rss style definition. When setting the element to float it considers it a block level element and since your existing text is not floated, it wraps to the next line. Either this, or you need to float your Choose Catalog text to the left as well. Or as Kevin suggested, you can just put your Floated elements to the left of the non-floated, but this can be an issue when it comes to screen readers as it reads from left to right in your code, and is not semantically correct.

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