Question

How can I create a 1 pixel high horizontal line without padding using CSS, that is compatible with IE?

Asked by: abilstein

What is the ideal way to create a 1 pixel high horizontal line without using spacer .gifs that works in IE? For Mozilla or Opera I could do this:

<div style="height: 1px; width: 500px; background-color: #000;"></div>

However, IE pads the line with about 10 pixels on either side above and below. I need a 1 pixel high line without any padding so that elements above and below can be flush. I would like to do this through CSS if possible. I know that I could put a 1 pixel high transparent .gif within the div to fix the IE bug, but that seems like a crutch.

Am I going about this the wrong way?

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Asked On
2004-02-21 at 19:35:25ID20893488
Tags

pixel

,

line

,

1

,

horizontal

,

css

Topic

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)

Participating Experts
4
Points
50
Comments
16

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Answers

 

by: seanpowellPosted on 2004-02-21 at 19:41:41ID: 10423817

Just need to remove the default font height...

Line of text
<div style="font-size:0px; height:1px; width:500px; background-color:#000;"></div>
Another line of text

 

by: abilsteinPosted on 2004-02-21 at 19:56:05ID: 10423864

I tried this:

<div style="height: 1px; width: 500px; background-color: #000; font-size: 0px;"></div>

Very close, but it's two pixels high. Any suggestions?

 

by: zoobiePosted on 2004-02-21 at 20:17:09ID: 10423941

Empty divs really aren't recommended but try:
<div style="border-bottom:1px solid #ff0000; width:200px"></div>

 

by: zoobiePosted on 2004-02-21 at 20:22:03ID: 10423957

oops...heh heh
<div style="border-bottom:1px solid #ff0000; width:200px;line-height:0px"></div>

 

by: abilsteinPosted on 2004-02-21 at 20:25:49ID: 10423968

zoobie, That produces a one pixel line, but elements above and below are not flush.

Use of divs is not required for this question. If there is some other recommended way of achieving this with CSS, that's all I need.

 

by: abilsteinPosted on 2004-02-21 at 20:45:42ID: 10424022

I found this to work:

<div style="height: 1px; width: 500px; background-color: #000; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0px;">&nbsp;</div>

 

by: seanpowellPosted on 2004-02-22 at 01:42:33ID: 10424734

abilstein,
I'm fine with your last comment as a solution.

Note: "Depending on your layout", you can always use the border-bottom property on other elements to achieve a similar cross-broswer effect.

<html>
<head>
<style type="text/css">
p { margin:0px; padding:0px; }
</style>
</head>
<body>
<p style="border-bottom:1px solid #f00; width:500px;">y-descender text</p>
<p>h-ascender text</p>
</body>
</html>

 

by: abilsteinPosted on 2004-02-22 at 22:13:26ID: 10429842

Sean, thanks for the help. Being new to EE, I'm not exactly sure how I'm supposed to handle the resolution of this question.

I didn't want to "Accept" your first answer since it didn't solve the problem down to the pixel and I didn't want to lead anyone astray who came upon it. However, without your answer I wouldn't have figured this out. I tried to give partial credit as an assisted answer, but it won't let me do without accepting a solution. I would also like to make it clear that the solution I posted works, so other people see that easily. How should I handle this?

 

by: zoobiePosted on 2004-02-23 at 01:44:33ID: 10430698

Border-bottom and line-height were the key to unlocking this "puzzle". I had both...heh heh.

 

by: seanpowellPosted on 2004-02-23 at 04:12:22ID: 10431490

Thanks abilstein for your diligence and concern.
In this case, the only solution posted here that fully satisfies your objectives is your own. Also my fault for not checking IE's rendering engine on the first post :-)

However, since that solution was based on previous comments, my preference here would be a point split, but give you the accepted answer for the correct format.
Are you both comfortable with this as a resolution?

 

by: abilsteinPosted on 2004-02-23 at 07:00:27ID: 10432535

Guys,

Sorry for being daft here, but what are you suggesting I do? I wanted to give partial credit to both of you (zoobie's line-height inclusion was also part of the eventual solution) with more weight going to seanpowell's answer. The solution I posted was exactly what I was looking for, but of course I can't Accept my own Comment. So, what should I do to Accept an answer and split points?.

 

by: seanpowellPosted on 2004-02-24 at 05:26:49ID: 10440510

I probably confused you :-)
Just let me know how to split - I'll do it from here.

Thanks!

 

by: jSkipBPosted on 2004-02-27 at 20:14:39ID: 10474538

Points aside, try playing around with the HR tag:

<HR style="margin: 0px; height: 1px; border: 1px solid red">

Sure, you can put the style specs in a STYLE block or external stylesheet as a class.  That's up to you.

(I've had lots of fun playing around with Horizontal Rule tags - you can too!)

skip

 

by: DaydreamsPosted on 2004-02-28 at 07:42:43ID: 10476267

jSkipB, Even if you specify a negative top margin,(as I have below) hr will still insert a line break below the hr:

This text will be flush with the hr
<hr style="border: none; background-color: #000; height: 1px;margin-top:-.5em;">
This text will be not be flush with the line above

The negative margin will align your text flush with the top, but margin values cannot get it to align flush with the bottom.

 

by: jSkipBPosted on 2004-02-29 at 09:50:53ID: 10481166

So, you want it on the same line as your text:

- Put the line in a TABLE cell (TD|TH), then, in the same row, put the HR (as I've shown) in surrounding cells with specified widths:

  <table width="100%"><tr>
  <td width="10"><hr></td><td>Text goes here</td>
  </tr></table>

- Try the FIELDSET with the LEGEND tags.  This underused tag works in the popular browser, and adds a clean, application-style look to your pages.  You can modify the FIELDSET appearance as I did the HR tag in your stylesheet.

skip


 

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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