Two column div layout with fluid left and fixed right column

Solution 1:

The following examples are source ordered i.e. column 1 appears before column 2 in the HTML source. Whether a column appears on left or right is controlled by CSS:

Fixed Right

#wrapper {
  margin-right: 200px;
}
#content {
  float: left;
  width: 100%;
  background-color: #CCF;
}
#sidebar {
  float: right;
  width: 200px;
  margin-right: -200px;
  background-color: #FFA;
}
#cleared {
  clear: both;
}

<div id="wrapper">
  <div id="content">Column 1 (fluid)</div>
  <div id="sidebar">Column 2 (fixed)</div>
  <div id="cleared"></div>
</div>

Fixed Left

#wrapper {
  margin-left: 200px;
}
#content {
  float: right;
  width: 100%;
  background-color: #CCF;
}
#sidebar {
  float: left;
  width: 200px;
  margin-left: -200px;
  background-color: #FFA;
}
#cleared {
  clear: both;
}

<div id="wrapper">
  <div id="content">Column 1 (fluid)</div>
  <div id="sidebar">Column 2 (fixed)</div>
  <div id="cleared"></div>
</div>

Alternate solution is to use display: table-cell; which results in equal height columns.

Solution 2:

Here's a solution (and it has some quirks, but let me know if you notice them and that they're a concern):

<div>
    <div style="width:200px;float:left;display:inline-block;">
        Hello world
    </div>
    <div style="margin-left:200px;">
        Hello world
    </div>
</div>

Solution 3:

CSS:

#sidebar {float: right; width: 200px; background: #eee;}
#content {overflow: hidden; background: #dad;}

HTML:

<div id="sidebar">I'm 200px wide</div>
<div id="content"> I take up the remaining space <br> and I don't wrap under the right column</div>

The above should work, you can put that code in wrapper if you want the give it width and center it too, overflow:hidden on the column without a width is the key to getting it to contain, vertically, as in not wrap around the side columns (can be left or right)

IE6 might need zoom:1 set on the #content div too if you need it's support

Solution 4:

CSS Solutuion

#left{
    float:right;
    width:200px;
    height:500px;
    background:red;   
}

#right{
    margin-right: 200px;
    height:500px;
    background:blue;
}

Check working example at http://jsfiddle.net/NP4vb/3/

jQuery Solution

var parentw = $('#parent').width();
var rightw = $('#right').width();
$('#left').width(parentw - rightw);

Check working example http://jsfiddle.net/NP4vb/

Solution 5:

I was recently shown this website for liquid layouts using CSS. http://matthewjamestaylor.com/blog/perfect-multi-column-liquid-layouts (Take a look at the demo pages in the links below).

The author now provides an example for fixed width layouts. Check out; http://matthewjamestaylor.com/blog/how-to-convert-a-liquid-layout-to-fixed-width.

This provides the following example(s), http://matthewjamestaylor.com/blog/ultimate-2-column-left-menu-pixels.htm (for two column layout like you are after I think)

http://matthewjamestaylor.com/blog/fixed-width-or-liquid-layout.htm (for three column layout).

Sorry for so many links to this guys site, but I think it is an AWESOME resource.