Question

absolutely positioned div. how to stretch vertically to fill window?

Asked by: kanden

i need the column on the right hand side to stretch vertically to fill the browser window.
if i set height: 100%; it overflows by the amount of top offset.

heres the markup:
http://www.wwcclient.com/fsb/default.htm

heres the css:
http://www.wwcclient.com/fsb/fsb.css


and for quick reference.

the CSS pertinent to the column.

#sideBar{
      position : absolute;
      top : 0px;
      margin-top: 169px;
      right : 0px;
      width: 217px;
      z-index : 1;
      padding : 3px;
      background-image: url(GLOBAL_IMAGES/layout/sideBar_repeat.gif);
      background-repeat: repeat-y;
      color: #7f4e00;
      font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
      font-size: 8px;
      font-weight: bold;
      height: auto;
}

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Asked On
2005-09-28 at 12:56:56ID21577557
Tags

vertically

,

div

Topic

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)

Participating Experts
2
Points
500
Comments
4

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Answers

 

by: biXenPosted on 2005-09-29 at 01:18:27ID: 14981919

It's not recommended in CSS to set a height property like that. I have sometimes done it though, mostly I make a containing div, and have to set it to 98% or so, basically calculate a bit concerning other stuff on the page.

 

by: rcMingPosted on 2005-09-29 at 07:41:02ID: 14984181

You may be able to get around it by using a "padding" div of 169px height inside your sidebar div and then setting the sidebar and body to 100% height:

So after <div id="sideBar">, insert: <div id="paddingBar"></div> and then change the CSS:

html,body {
      margin: 0;
      padding: 0;
      height: 100%;
      min-height: 100%;
      height: 100%;
      width: 100%;
}

.................

#paddingBar {
      height:169px;
}

#sideBar{
      position : absolute;
      top : 0px;
      right : 0px;
      width: 217px;
      z-index : 1;
      padding : 3px;
      background-image: url(GLOBAL_IMAGES/layout/sideBar_repeat.gif);
      background-repeat: repeat-y;
      color: #7f4e00;
      font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
      font-size: 8px;
      font-weight: bold;
      height: 100%;
}

Only thing is you'll have to play around with your z-indexes for the other divs or you won't be able to see them.

Chris.


 

by: kandenPosted on 2005-09-29 at 09:50:27ID: 14985485

thanks for your help.
that works as long as there isnt any vertical scrolling, otherwise it only extends down the the unscrolled area.

any ideas as to why that occurs?

 

by: rcMingPosted on 2005-09-29 at 14:03:00ID: 14987854

Basically the 100% height always applies to the visible window, hence why when you scroll for content bigger than the window it doesn't work.

I had actually thought about that after I posted and came up with a better idea.Do you need content to take up the full height of the sidebar, or is it just a background image that you want there? If so, you can just move the:

...
     background-image: url(GLOBAL_IMAGES/layout/sideBar_repeat.gif);
     background-repeat: repeat-y;
...

to the css for the body and add:

     background-position:right;

so that the background takes up the whole body instead of just the sideBar div.

Chris.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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