What is the best way to clear the CSS style "float"?

css

I'm pretty accustomed to clearing my floats by using <br style="clear:both"/> but stuff keeps on changing and I am not sure if this is the best practice.

There is a CSS hack (from positioneverything) available that lets you achieve the same result without the clearing div. But... they claim the hack is a little out of date and instead you perhaps should look at this hack. But.. after reading through 700 pages of comments :) it seems there may be some places the latter hack does not work.

I would like to avoid any javascript hacks cause I would like my clearing to work regardless of javascript being enabled.

What is the current best practice for clearing divs in a browser independent way?

Solution 1:

Update: In 2014, you should use a clearfix technique that utilized pseudo-elements, like the one mentioned by @RodrigoManguinho. This is the modern way of clearing floats. For an even more up to date method, see Nicholas Gallagher's micro clearfix:

/**
 * For modern browsers
 * 1. The space content is one way to avoid an Opera bug when the
 *    contenteditable attribute is included anywhere else in the document.
 *    Otherwise it causes space to appear at the top and bottom of elements
 *    that are clearfixed.
 * 2. The use of `table` rather than `block` is only necessary if using
 *    `:before` to contain the top-margins of child elements.
 */
.cf:before,
.cf:after {
    content: " "; /* 1 */
    display: table; /* 2 */
}

.cf:after {
    clear: both;
}

/**
 * For IE 6/7 only
 * Include this rule to trigger hasLayout and contain floats.
 */
.cf {
    *zoom: 1;
}

Original Answer:

I really don't like using extra non-semantic markup, so I stay away from using a clearing element. Instead of just apply overflow: hidden; to the parent of the float(s) to clear them. Works cross browser, no problem. I believe overflow: auto; also works.

Obviously, it won't work if you want to use a different overflow property, but because of the IE6 expanding box bug, I rarely have a reason to purposely overflow my containers.

See more info on using overflow instead of clear to avoid adding extra markup.

Solution 2:

I've found that most often (myself included), this method is used in the html:

<div class="clear"></div>

With this in the stylesheet:

.clear {clear: both;}

Solution 3:

.clear-fix:after
{
    content: ".";
    display: block;
    clear: both;
    visibility: hidden;
    line-height: 0;
    height: 0;
}

.clear-fix
{
    zoom: 1;
}

<div class="clear-fix">
    <div class="left">Some Div With Float</div>
    <div class="left">Another Div With Float</div>
</div>

In my opinion this is the best way. No need of extra DOM elements or wrong usage of overflow or any hacks.

What is the best way to clear the CSS style "float"?

Solution 1:

Solution 2:

Solution 3:

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