CSS - HTML - 2 float columns - css

Question

I've run into a problem.
My code now:
<div style="width: 500px; margin: auto; border: 1px solid black;">
<div style="float: left; border: 1px solid black;"><b><u>TEST</u></b></div>
<div style="float: left; margin-left: 20px; border: 1px solid black;">A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A </div>
<div style="clear: both;"></div>
</div>
And it seems like this now:
When the word in the second div is as short as can be placed after the first div, it's in one row, like this:
My goal is to get this design, when the decond div is longer. I'm not allowed to use WIDTH and FLOAT: RIGHT because the inner divs have to de dynamic!
Like this (PhotoShop):
Thanks for the help in advance!

Answer 1

Is this what you looking for
I removed the float:left from the second inner div and increased the margin.
<div style="width: 500px; margin: auto; border: 1px solid black;">
<div style="float: left; border: 1px solid black;"><b><u>TEST</u></b></div>
<div style=" margin-left: 60px; border: 1px solid black;">A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A </div>
<div style="clear: both;"></div></div>
Hope this helps

Answer 2

No width allowed ? OK here is a try:
AFAIK you can't do that with float without having a few width properties. Same with relative positioning of a "column": you still need a width and margin-left on the second column.
A solution is using CSS display: table; and table-cell (nope, not HTML table ;) ). It's as flexible as you want.
http://dabblet.com/gist/1717860 will show you an example (HTML is separated from CSS, an id was added for clarity but isn't really needed and deprecated element u was removed and b replaced by strong. But CSS font-weight: bold; would be better, without context)
#main {
display: table;
width: 500px;
margin: auto;
border: 1px solid blue;
}
#main > div {
display: table-cell;
border: 1px dashed black;
padding: 1em;
}
#main > div + div {
padding-left: 20px;
}
EDIT: compatibility IE8+
display: inline-block; is a good fallback for IE6/7. Well display: inline; zoom: 1; in fact, as IE6/7 doesn't understand the inline-block value but can achieve the same with inline+hasLayout)

Answer 3

<div style="width: 500px; margin: auto; border: 1px solid black;">
<div style="float: left; border: 1px solid black;width:50px;"><b><u>TEST</u></b></div>
<div style="float: left; margin-left: 20px; border: 1px solid black;width:420px;">A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A </div>
<div style="clear: both;"></div>
</div>
This is close to what you wanted. I just set the width for the inner div's. Also, you forgot to close the first div tag.

Answer 4

Float the first box left and give it an fix width. Then give the right div a margin-left bigger than the left div's width! ... and do not float the second div

Answer 5

Try:
<div style="overflow: hidden; width: 500px; margin: auto; border: 1px solid black;">
<div style="float: left; margin-right: 20px; border: 1px solid black;">
<b><u>TEST</u></b>
</div>
<div style="overflow: hidden;">
<div style="float: left; border: 1px solid black;">A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A</div>
</div>
</div>
http://jsfiddle.net/ZmRY2/5/

Answer 6

Is like a table cell, try this
<div style="width: 500px; margin: auto; border: 1px solid black;">
<div style="float: left;">
<div style="border: 1px solid black;"><b><u>TEST</u></b></div>
</div>
<div style="display:table-cell;">
<div style="margin-left: 20px; border: 1px solid black;">A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A </div>
</div>
<br style="clear: both;">
</div>