How do I use CSS to position a fixed variable height header and a scrollable content box?

css

I'm trying to make a web page with a fixed header and a scrollable content area. This is trivial when the header has a known height but I'm struggling to find a solution for when the header is fluid.

The layout I want is:

--------------
head
--------------
content
--------------

where "head" is whatever height its content needs it to be and "content" has no minimum height but will reach a maximum height of the bottom of the viewport before becoming scrollable.

Is this possible these days in pure CSS? I'm targeting IE8+.

To clarify what I want, here is what I would do if I knew the height of the header:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
    <head>
        <style type="text/css">

body {
    margin: 0;
}

#head {
    background: yellow;
    height: 20px; /* I can't rely on knowing this. */
}

#content {
    background: red;
    position: absolute;
    top: 20px; /* here also */
    bottom: 0;
    width: 100%;
    overflow: auto;
}

        </style>
    </head>
    <body>
        <div id="head">some variable height content</div>
        <div id="content">
            scrollable content<br/>
            scrollable content<br/>
            scrollable content<br/>
            scrollable content<br/>
            scrollable content<br/>
            scrollable content<br/>
            scrollable content<br/>
            scrollable content<br/>
            scrollable content<br/>
            scrollable content<br/>
            scrollable content<br/>
            scrollable content<br/>
            scrollable content<br/>
            scrollable content<br/>
            scrollable content<br/>
        </div>
    </body>
</html>

Solution 1:

Assuming by "fixed" you mean position:fixed, I don't think it's possible in pure CSS, as position:fixed takes the element out of the document flow.

However, it should just take a line or two of JavaScript to get what you want. Something like this (untested, only for example purposes, will need syntax tweaked to actually work):

var height = document.getElementById("head").offsetHeight;
document.getElementById("content").style.marginTop = height + 'px';

Something like that should get you the rendered height of the fixed <div> and set the content <div>'s margin accordingly. You'll also need to explicitly set a background color on the fixed <div>, otherwise the content will appear to bleed into the fixed one when scrolling.

Solution 2:

Here's a solution, but it's a cheat. Basically, you have a duplicate header element, to push down the content, under the fixed position one:

<div class="outer">
    <div class="header">Header content goes here</div>
    <div class="header-push">Header content goes here</div>
    <div class="content">
        ...
    </div>
</div>

Solution 3:

I did a combination of both the accepted and Eric's answer. An empty div is used to push the content bellow "head". The width of this div is set by jQuery when window.onresize is fired:

function resizeHeader() {
    $(".header-push").height($(".header").height());
}
$(document).ready(resizeHeader);
$(window).resize(resizeHeader);

See this jsFiddle for more info.

Solution 4:

This javascript will take the variable height of a fixed header and set the top margin of the content to flow underneath. Just call page load.

<script type="text/javascript">
    function AdjustHeight() {
        var height = document.getElementById("fixedheader").offsetHeight;
        document.getElementById("content").style.marginTop = height + 'px';
    }    
</script>

How do I use CSS to position a fixed variable height header and a scrollable content box?

Solution 1:

Solution 2:

Solution 3:

Solution 4:

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