Expanding a parent div to the height of its children

Question

I have a page structure similar to this    lt body gt     lt div id  parent  gt       lt div id  childRightCol  gt          Content        lt  div gt       lt div id  childLeftCol  gt          Content        lt  div gt     lt  div gt   lt  body gt    I would like for the parent div to expand in height when the inner div s height increases   Edit  One problem is that if the width of the child content expands past the width of the browser window  my current CSS puts a horizontal scrollbar on the parent div   I would like the scrollbar to be at the page level  Currently my parent div is set to overflow  auto   Can you please help me with the CSS for this

User · Answer

If your content inside  childRightCol and  childRightCol are floated left or right  just add this into css    childRightCol before   display  table  content          childRightCol after   display  table  content       clear  both     childLeftCol before   display  table  content          childLeftCol after   display  table  content       clear  both

User · Answer

Using something like self-clearing div is perfect for a situation like this  Then you ll just use a class on the parent    like    lt div id  parent  class  clearfix  gt

User · Answer

As Jens said in comment     An alternative answer is How to make div not larger than its contents     and it   proposes to set display inline-block  Which worked great for me        Jens Jun 2 at 5 41   This works far better for me in all browsers

User · Answer

add a clear both   assuming that your columns are floating   Depending on how your height is specified parent you may need an overflow auto    lt body gt   lt div id  parent  gt       lt div id  childRightCol  gt       lt div gt       lt div id  childLeftCol  gt       lt div gt       lt div id  clear  style  clear both   gt  lt  div gt   lt  div gt   lt  body gt

User · Answer

add a clear both   assuming that your columns are floating   Depending on how your height is specified parent you may need an overflow auto    lt body gt   lt div id  parent  gt       lt div id  childRightCol  gt       lt div gt       lt div id  childLeftCol  gt       lt div gt       lt div id  clear  style  clear both   gt  lt  div gt   lt  div gt   lt  body gt

User · Answer

Using something like self-clearing div is perfect for a situation like this  Then you ll just use a class on the parent    like    lt div id  parent  class  clearfix  gt

User · Answer

add a clear both   assuming that your columns are floating   Depending on how your height is specified parent you may need an overflow auto    lt body gt   lt div id  parent  gt       lt div id  childRightCol  gt       lt div gt       lt div id  childLeftCol  gt       lt div gt       lt div id  clear  style  clear both   gt  lt  div gt   lt  div gt   lt  body gt

User · Answer

You have to apply the clearfix solution on the parent container  Here is a nice article explaining the fix link

User · Answer

This is functioning as described by the spec - several answers here are valid  and consistent with the following      If it has block-level children  the height is the distance between the top border-edge of the topmost block-level child box that doesn t have margins collapsed through it and the bottom border-edge of the bottommost block-level child box that doesn t have margins collapsed through it  However  if the element has a nonzero top padding and or top border  or is the root element  then the content starts at the top margin edge of the topmost child   The first case expresses the fact that the top and bottom margins of the element collapse with those of the topmost and bottommost children  while in the second case the presence of the padding border prevents the top margins from collapsing   Similarly  if the element has a nonzero bottom padding and or bottom border  then the content ends at the bottom margin edge of the bottommost child    from here  https   www w3 org TR css3-box  blockwidth

User · Answer

Instead of setting height property  use min-height

User · Answer

As Jens said in comment     An alternative answer is How to make div not larger than its contents     and it   proposes to set display inline-block  Which worked great for me        Jens Jun 2 at 5 41   This works far better for me in all browsers

User · Answer

Does this do what you want    childRightCol   childLeftCol       display  inline-block      width  50       margin  0      padding  0      vertical-align  top

User · Answer

Where We   re Starting From  Here   s some boilerplate HTML and CSS  In our example  we have a parent element with two floated child elements    x000D   x000D     The CSS you re starting with may look similar to this  x000D     This doesn t solve our problem yet  but we ll get there shortly  x000D      x000D   x000D   containing-div   x000D    background-color   d2b48c  x000D    display  block  x000D    height  auto  x000D    x000D   x000D   floating-div   x000D    float  left  x000D    width  50   x000D    x000D   x000D   floating-div ul   x000D    display  inline-block  x000D    height  auto  x000D    x000D   lt  -- The HTML you re starting with might look similar to this -- gt  x000D   lt div class  containing-div  gt  x000D     lt div class  floating-div  gt  x000D       lt ul gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item One lt  li gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item Two lt  li gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item Three lt  li gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item Four lt  li gt  x000D       lt  ul gt  x000D     lt  div gt  x000D     lt div class  floating-div  gt  x000D       lt ul gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item Five lt  li gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item Six lt  li gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item Seven lt  li gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item Eight lt  li gt  x000D       lt  ul gt  x000D     lt  div gt  x000D   lt  div gt  x000D   x000D   x000D    Solution  1  overflow  auto  A solution that works in all modern browsers and in Internet Explorer back to IE8 is to add overflow  auto to the parent element  This also works in IE7  with scrollbars added    x000D   x000D     Our Modified CSS  x000D     This is one way we can solve our problem  x000D      x000D   x000D   containing-div   x000D    background-color   d2b48c  x000D    display  block  x000D    height  auto  x000D    overflow  auto  x000D      This is what we added    x000D    x000D   x000D   floating-div   x000D    float  left  x000D    width  50   x000D    x000D   x000D   floating-div ul   x000D    display  inline-block  x000D    height  auto  x000D    x000D   x000D   x000D    Solution  2  Float Parent Container  Another solution that works in all modern browsers and back to IE7 is to float the parent container   This may not always be practical  because floating your parent div may affect other parts of your page layout    x000D   x000D     Modified CSS  2  x000D     Floating parent div  x000D      x000D   x000D   containing-div   x000D    background-color   d2b48c  x000D    display  block  x000D    float  left  x000D      Added   x000D    height  auto  x000D    width  100   x000D      Added   x000D    x000D   x000D   floating-div   x000D    float  left  x000D    width  50   x000D    x000D   x000D   floating-div ul   x000D    display  inline-block  x000D    height  auto  x000D    x000D   x000D   x000D    Method  3  Add Clearing Div Below Floated Elements   x000D   x000D      x000D     CSS to Solution  3  x000D      x000D   x000D   containing-div   x000D    background-color   d2b48c  x000D    display  block  x000D    height  auto  x000D    x000D   x000D   floating-div   x000D    float  left  x000D    width  50   x000D    x000D   x000D   floating-div ul   x000D    display  inline-block  x000D    height  auto  x000D    x000D   x000D   x000D    Added   x000D   x000D   clear   x000D    clear  both  x000D    x000D   lt  -- Solution 3  Add a clearing div to bottom of parent element -- gt  x000D   lt div class  containing-div  gt  x000D     lt div class  floating-div  gt  x000D       lt ul gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item One lt  li gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item Two lt  li gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item Three lt  li gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item Four lt  li gt  x000D       lt  ul gt  x000D     lt  div gt  x000D     lt div class  floating-div  gt  x000D       lt ul gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item Five lt  li gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item Six lt  li gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item Seven lt  li gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item Eight lt  li gt  x000D       lt  ul gt  x000D     lt  div gt  x000D     lt div class  clear  gt  lt  div gt  x000D   lt  div gt  x000D   x000D   x000D    Method  4  Add Clearing Div To The Parent Element This solution is pretty bulletproof for older browsers and newer browsers alike    x000D   x000D      x000D     CSS to Solution  4  x000D      x000D   x000D   containing-div   x000D    background-color   d2b48c  x000D    display  block  x000D    height  auto  x000D    x000D   x000D   floating-div   x000D    float  left  x000D    width  50   x000D    x000D   x000D   floating-div ul   x000D    display  inline-block  x000D    height  auto  x000D    x000D   x000D   x000D    Added   x000D   x000D   clearfix   x000D    clear  both  x000D    x000D   x000D   clearfix after   x000D    clear  both  x000D    content      x000D    display  table  x000D    x000D   lt  -- Solution 4  make parent element self-clearing -- gt  x000D   lt div class  containing-div clearfix  gt  x000D     lt div class  floating-div  gt  x000D       lt ul gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item One lt  li gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item Two lt  li gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item Three lt  li gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item Four lt  li gt  x000D       lt  ul gt  x000D     lt  div gt  x000D     lt div class  floating-div  gt  x000D       lt ul gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item Five lt  li gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item Six lt  li gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item Seven lt  li gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item Eight lt  li gt  x000D       lt  ul gt  x000D     lt  div gt  x000D   lt  div gt  x000D   x000D   x000D    from https   www lockedownseo com parent-div-100-height-child-floated-elements

User · Answer

If your content inside  childRightCol and  childRightCol are floated left or right  just add this into css    childRightCol before   display  table  content          childRightCol after   display  table  content       clear  both     childLeftCol before   display  table  content          childLeftCol after   display  table  content       clear  both

User · Answer

Add   clear both     To the css of the parent div  or add a div at the bottom of the parent div that does clear both   That is the correct answer  because overflow auto  may work for simple web layouts  but will mess with elements that start using things like negative margin  etc

User · Answer

Does this do what you want    childRightCol   childLeftCol       display  inline-block      width  50       margin  0      padding  0      vertical-align  top

User · Answer

x000D   x000D   childRightCol x000D    x000D  float right  x000D    x000D   childLeftCol x000D    x000D  float left  x000D    x000D   parent x000D    x000D      display inline  x000D    x000D   x000D   x000D

User · Answer

Using something like self-clearing div is perfect for a situation like this  Then you ll just use a class on the parent    like    lt div id  parent  class  clearfix  gt

User · Answer

I use this CSS to parent and it works   min-height 350px  background url    images inner details middle gif  repeat-y 0 0   padding 5px 10px     text-align right  overflow  hidden  position  relative  width  100

User · Answer

Using something like self-clearing div is perfect for a situation like this  Then you ll just use a class on the parent    like    lt div id  parent  class  clearfix  gt

User · Answer

Instead of setting height property  use min-height

User · Answer

Are you looking for a 2 column CSS layout   If so  have a look at the instructions  it s pretty straightforward for starting

User · Answer

add a clear both   assuming that your columns are floating   Depending on how your height is specified parent you may need an overflow auto    lt body gt   lt div id  parent  gt       lt div id  childRightCol  gt       lt div gt       lt div id  childLeftCol  gt       lt div gt       lt div id  clear  style  clear both   gt  lt  div gt   lt  div gt   lt  body gt

User · Answer

Where We   re Starting From  Here   s some boilerplate HTML and CSS  In our example  we have a parent element with two floated child elements    x000D   x000D     The CSS you re starting with may look similar to this  x000D     This doesn t solve our problem yet  but we ll get there shortly  x000D      x000D   x000D   containing-div   x000D    background-color   d2b48c  x000D    display  block  x000D    height  auto  x000D    x000D   x000D   floating-div   x000D    float  left  x000D    width  50   x000D    x000D   x000D   floating-div ul   x000D    display  inline-block  x000D    height  auto  x000D    x000D   lt  -- The HTML you re starting with might look similar to this -- gt  x000D   lt div class  containing-div  gt  x000D     lt div class  floating-div  gt  x000D       lt ul gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item One lt  li gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item Two lt  li gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item Three lt  li gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item Four lt  li gt  x000D       lt  ul gt  x000D     lt  div gt  x000D     lt div class  floating-div  gt  x000D       lt ul gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item Five lt  li gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item Six lt  li gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item Seven lt  li gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item Eight lt  li gt  x000D       lt  ul gt  x000D     lt  div gt  x000D   lt  div gt  x000D   x000D   x000D    Solution  1  overflow  auto  A solution that works in all modern browsers and in Internet Explorer back to IE8 is to add overflow  auto to the parent element  This also works in IE7  with scrollbars added    x000D   x000D     Our Modified CSS  x000D     This is one way we can solve our problem  x000D      x000D   x000D   containing-div   x000D    background-color   d2b48c  x000D    display  block  x000D    height  auto  x000D    overflow  auto  x000D      This is what we added    x000D    x000D   x000D   floating-div   x000D    float  left  x000D    width  50   x000D    x000D   x000D   floating-div ul   x000D    display  inline-block  x000D    height  auto  x000D    x000D   x000D   x000D    Solution  2  Float Parent Container  Another solution that works in all modern browsers and back to IE7 is to float the parent container   This may not always be practical  because floating your parent div may affect other parts of your page layout    x000D   x000D     Modified CSS  2  x000D     Floating parent div  x000D      x000D   x000D   containing-div   x000D    background-color   d2b48c  x000D    display  block  x000D    float  left  x000D      Added   x000D    height  auto  x000D    width  100   x000D      Added   x000D    x000D   x000D   floating-div   x000D    float  left  x000D    width  50   x000D    x000D   x000D   floating-div ul   x000D    display  inline-block  x000D    height  auto  x000D    x000D   x000D   x000D    Method  3  Add Clearing Div Below Floated Elements   x000D   x000D      x000D     CSS to Solution  3  x000D      x000D   x000D   containing-div   x000D    background-color   d2b48c  x000D    display  block  x000D    height  auto  x000D    x000D   x000D   floating-div   x000D    float  left  x000D    width  50   x000D    x000D   x000D   floating-div ul   x000D    display  inline-block  x000D    height  auto  x000D    x000D   x000D   x000D    Added   x000D   x000D   clear   x000D    clear  both  x000D    x000D   lt  -- Solution 3  Add a clearing div to bottom of parent element -- gt  x000D   lt div class  containing-div  gt  x000D     lt div class  floating-div  gt  x000D       lt ul gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item One lt  li gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item Two lt  li gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item Three lt  li gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item Four lt  li gt  x000D       lt  ul gt  x000D     lt  div gt  x000D     lt div class  floating-div  gt  x000D       lt ul gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item Five lt  li gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item Six lt  li gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item Seven lt  li gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item Eight lt  li gt  x000D       lt  ul gt  x000D     lt  div gt  x000D     lt div class  clear  gt  lt  div gt  x000D   lt  div gt  x000D   x000D   x000D    Method  4  Add Clearing Div To The Parent Element This solution is pretty bulletproof for older browsers and newer browsers alike    x000D   x000D      x000D     CSS to Solution  4  x000D      x000D   x000D   containing-div   x000D    background-color   d2b48c  x000D    display  block  x000D    height  auto  x000D    x000D   x000D   floating-div   x000D    float  left  x000D    width  50   x000D    x000D   x000D   floating-div ul   x000D    display  inline-block  x000D    height  auto  x000D    x000D   x000D   x000D    Added   x000D   x000D   clearfix   x000D    clear  both  x000D    x000D   x000D   clearfix after   x000D    clear  both  x000D    content      x000D    display  table  x000D    x000D   lt  -- Solution 4  make parent element self-clearing -- gt  x000D   lt div class  containing-div clearfix  gt  x000D     lt div class  floating-div  gt  x000D       lt ul gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item One lt  li gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item Two lt  li gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item Three lt  li gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item Four lt  li gt  x000D       lt  ul gt  x000D     lt  div gt  x000D     lt div class  floating-div  gt  x000D       lt ul gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item Five lt  li gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item Six lt  li gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item Seven lt  li gt  x000D         lt li gt List Item Eight lt  li gt  x000D       lt  ul gt  x000D     lt  div gt  x000D   lt  div gt  x000D   x000D   x000D    from https   www lockedownseo com parent-div-100-height-child-floated-elements

User · Answer

Are you looking for a 2 column CSS layout   If so  have a look at the instructions  it s pretty straightforward for starting

User · Answer

Below code worked for me  css  parent      overflow  auto      html  lt div class  quot parent quot  gt       lt div class  quot child1 quot  gt       lt  div gt       lt div class  quot child2 quot  gt       lt  div gt       lt div id  quot clear quot  style  quot clear both  quot  gt  lt  div gt   lt  div gt

User · Answer

Are you looking for a 2 column CSS layout   If so  have a look at the instructions  it s pretty straightforward for starting

User · Answer

You have to apply the clearfix solution on the parent container  Here is a nice article explaining the fix link

User · Answer

Try to give max-contentfor parent s height    parent     height  max-content      https   jsfiddle net FreeS so4L83wu 5

User · Answer

Try this for the parent  it worked for me   overflow auto     UPDATE   One more solution that worked   Parent   display  table    Child   display  table-row

User · Answer

For those who can not figure out this in instructions from this answer there   Try to set padding value more then 0  if child divs have margin-top or margin-bottom you can replace it with padding  For example if you have   childRightCol       margin-top  30px     childLeftCol       margin-bottom  20px      it ll be better to replace it with    parent       padding  30px 0px 20px 0px

User · Answer

I use this CSS to parent and it works   min-height 350px  background url    images inner details middle gif  repeat-y 0 0   padding 5px 10px     text-align right  overflow  hidden  position  relative  width  100

User · Answer

I made a parent div expand around content of a child div by having the child div as a single column that does not have any positioning attribute such as absolute  specified   Example    wrap  width 400px padding 10px 200px 10px 200px position relative margin 0px auto    maincolumn  width 400px     Based on maincolumn div being the deepest child div of  wrap this defines the depth of the  wrap div and the 200px padding on either side creates two big blank columns for you to place absolutely positioned divs in as you please  You could even change the padding top and bottom to place header divs and footer divs using position absolute

User · Answer

Try to give max-contentfor parent s height    parent     height  max-content      https   jsfiddle net FreeS so4L83wu 5

User · Answer

Are you looking for a 2 column CSS layout   If so  have a look at the instructions  it s pretty straightforward for starting

User · Answer

I made a parent div expand around content of a child div by having the child div as a single column that does not have any positioning attribute such as absolute  specified   Example    wrap  width 400px padding 10px 200px 10px 200px position relative margin 0px auto    maincolumn  width 400px     Based on maincolumn div being the deepest child div of  wrap this defines the depth of the  wrap div and the 200px padding on either side creates two big blank columns for you to place absolutely positioned divs in as you please  You could even change the padding top and bottom to place header divs and footer divs using position absolute

User · Answer

Try this for the parent  it worked for me   overflow auto     UPDATE   One more solution that worked   Parent   display  table    Child   display  table-row

User · Answer

This is functioning as described by the spec - several answers here are valid  and consistent with the following      If it has block-level children  the height is the distance between the top border-edge of the topmost block-level child box that doesn t have margins collapsed through it and the bottom border-edge of the bottommost block-level child box that doesn t have margins collapsed through it  However  if the element has a nonzero top padding and or top border  or is the root element  then the content starts at the top margin edge of the topmost child   The first case expresses the fact that the top and bottom margins of the element collapse with those of the topmost and bottommost children  while in the second case the presence of the padding border prevents the top margins from collapsing   Similarly  if the element has a nonzero bottom padding and or bottom border  then the content ends at the bottom margin edge of the bottommost child    from here  https   www w3 org TR css3-box  blockwidth

User · Answer

x000D   x000D   childRightCol x000D    x000D  float right  x000D    x000D   childLeftCol x000D    x000D  float left  x000D    x000D   parent x000D    x000D      display inline  x000D    x000D   x000D   x000D

User · Answer

Add   clear both     To the css of the parent div  or add a div at the bottom of the parent div that does clear both   That is the correct answer  because overflow auto  may work for simple web layouts  but will mess with elements that start using things like negative margin  etc

User · Answer

x000D   x000D   parent  x000D    background-color green  x000D    height auto  x000D    width 300px  x000D    overflow hidden  x000D    x000D   x000D   childRightCol  x000D    color gray  x000D    background-color yellow  x000D    margin 10px  x000D    padding 10px  x000D    x000D   lt div id  parent  gt  x000D       lt div id  childRightCol  gt  x000D           lt p gt  x000D            Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet  consectetur adipiscing elit  Quisque vulputate sit amet neque ac consequat  x000D           lt  p gt  x000D       lt  div gt  x000D     lt  div gt  x000D   x000D   x000D    you are manage by using overflow hidden  property in css

User · Answer

For those who can not figure out this in instructions from this answer there   Try to set padding value more then 0  if child divs have margin-top or margin-bottom you can replace it with padding  For example if you have   childRightCol       margin-top  30px     childLeftCol       margin-bottom  20px      it ll be better to replace it with    parent       padding  30px 0px 20px 0px

User · Answer

Below code worked for me  css  parent      overflow  auto      html  lt div class  quot parent quot  gt       lt div class  quot child1 quot  gt       lt  div gt       lt div class  quot child2 quot  gt       lt  div gt       lt div id  quot clear quot  style  quot clear both  quot  gt  lt  div gt   lt  div gt

User · Answer

x000D   x000D   parent  x000D    background-color green  x000D    height auto  x000D    width 300px  x000D    overflow hidden  x000D    x000D   x000D   childRightCol  x000D    color gray  x000D    background-color yellow  x000D    margin 10px  x000D    padding 10px  x000D    x000D   lt div id  parent  gt  x000D       lt div id  childRightCol  gt  x000D           lt p gt  x000D            Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet  consectetur adipiscing elit  Quisque vulputate sit amet neque ac consequat  x000D           lt  p gt  x000D       lt  div gt  x000D     lt  div gt  x000D   x000D   x000D    you are manage by using overflow hidden  property in css

[html] Expanding a parent <div> to the height of its children

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