Problems with CSS sticky footer

I am trying to implement a CSS sticky footer.

The issue is there is a content DIV that is extending beyond its container causing scroll bars that are not desirable and the background-image hung off the page div does not extend the full height of the document.

Here is my HTML:

    <div id="page">
          <div id="header">
            <dl>
                <dt>Header links -</dt>
                <dd><a href="#">link 1</a></dd>
                <dd><a href="#">link 2</a></dd>
                <dd><a href="#">link 3</a></dd>
            </dl>
          </div>
        <div id="content">
            <p><a id="modal" href="popup.html" target="_blank">link to popup</a></p>
        </div>      
        <div id="footer">
            <dl>
                <dt>Footer links -</dt>
                <dd><a href="#">link 1</a></dd>
                <dd><a href="#">link 2</a></dd>
                <dd><a href="#">link 3</a></dd>
            </dl>
        </div>
    </div>

And here is the CSS:

/*--------------------------------------------------------------- global */

html, 
body {
    color:#969696;
    font-size:100%;
    height:100%;
}

body {
    font:normal 200 70% Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif;  
}

a, 
a:link, 
a:visited, 
a:hover, 
a:active {
    border-bottom:1px dashed #ff8400;
    color:#ff8400;
    text-decoration:none;}

a:hover {
    border-bottom-style:solid;}

/*--------------------------------------------------------------- layout */

#page {
    background:url("../images/bgMain.jpg") repeat-y center top;     
    height:100%;
    margin:0 auto;
    position:relative;
    width:1024px;
}

dl, 
dt, 
dd {
    float:left;
} 


dd {
    margin:0 .2em 0;
}

dd:after {
    color:#969696;
    content:"|";
    padding:0 0 0 .3em;
}

dd:last-child:after {
    content:"";
}

/*----------------- header */

#header {
    margin:0 auto;
    width:726px;
}

#header dl {
    float:right;
    line-height:60px;
}

/*----------------- content body */

#content {
    background:#fff;
    border-top-left-radius:5px;
    border-top-right-radius:5px;
        -moz-border-radius-topleft:5px;
        -moz-border-radius-topright:5px;
        -webkit-border-top-left-radius:5px;
        -webkit-border-top-right-radius:5px;
    box-shadow:0 0 12px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, .1);    
        -moz-box-shadow:0 0 12px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, .1);
        -webkit-box-shadow:0 0 12px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, .1);
    clear:both;
    height:100%;
    margin:0 auto;  
    min-height:100%;
    padding:16px 13px 22px;
    position:relative;
    width:700px;
}

/*----------------- footer */

#footer {
    clear:both;
    margin:-22px auto;
    position:relative;
    width:726px;
}

#footer dl {
    display:inline; 
    margin:0 0 0 13px;
}

#footer a, 
#footer a:link, 
#footer a:visited, 
#footer a:hover, 
#footer a:active {
    border-bottom-color:#969696;
    color:#969696;
}

The fantastic CSS Tricks website has, in their Snippets area a snippet for a Sticky Footer

http://css-tricks.com/snippets/css/sticky-footer/

or using jQuery

http://css-tricks.com/snippets/jquery/jquery-sticky-footer/

latest link with demo


Modern Clean CSS “Sticky Footer” from James Dean

HTML

<!DOCTYPE html>
<head>
    <title></title>
</head>
<body>
    <nav></nav>
    <article>Lorem ipsum...</article>
    <footer></footer>
</body>
</html>

CSS

html {
    position: relative;
    min-height: 100%;
}
body {
    margin: 0 0 100px; /* bottom = footer height */
}
footer {
    position: absolute;
    left: 0;
    bottom: 0;
    height: 100px;
    width: 100%;
}

Demo here


Apparently you need to change your rules for the #footer to include a defined height, and then a negative margin-top rule with a value equal to your defined height.

http://ryanfait.com/resources/footer-stick-to-bottom-of-page/