CSS 100% height layout
Solution 1:
You can do it with table style CSS properties, but still retain table less markup (which is still a win).
Example
HTML
<div id="container">
<div id="header"><div>header</div></div>
<div id="content"><div>content</div></div>
<div id="footer"><div>footer</div></div>
</div>
CSS
html,
body {
height: 100%;
padding: 0;
margin: 0;
}
#container {
display: table;
width: 100%;
height: 100%;
border: 1px solid red;
text-align: center;
}
#container > div {
display: table-row;
width: 100%;
}
#container > div > div {
display: table-cell;
width: 100%;
border-radius:10px;
}
#header > div {
height:50px;
border:solid 2px #aaa;
}
#content > div {
height: 100%;
background:#f0f4f0;
border:solid 2px #5a5;
}
#footer > div {
height:50px;
border:solid 2px #a55;
}
jsFiddle.
Solution 2:
'Multiple absolute co-ordinates' is a nice way to achieve this. This is when you absolutely position a box, then give it both top and bottom co-ordinates. Without specifying a height, you get a box which wants to be 10px from the top, and 10px from the bottom edges of its parent.
Here's an example
There is an IE6 specific style you'll need to add, if you care about that browser.
Here's an article on the technique (plus the IE6 fix) - it's a good one to know, even if you don't use it for this problem.
Solution 3:
You haven't said anything about heights of your sub elements, so I have had to make some presumptions. You could use percentages if you wanted.
<style>
html,body {margin:0;padding:0;
}
#mainContainer {
height:100%;
width:100%;
}
#header {
height:15%;
width:100%;
background-color:red;
}
#center {
height:75%;
width:100%;
background-color:blue;
}
#footer {
height:10%;
width:100%;
background-color:pink;
}
</style>
<body>
<div id="mainContainer">
<div id="header">Header</div>
<div id="center">Center</div>
<div id="footer">Footer</div>
</div>
</div>
</body>