Consider this example:
http://jsfiddle.net/treeface/P8JbW/
HTML:
overflow
is intended to be used with elements that are not absolutely positioned. If you want to handle the clipping of an absolutely positioned element, use the clip css property. So to clip on the bottom and top of your containing div, but not the left or right, do this:
#test {
position:relative;
margin-left:50px;
margin-top:50px;
border:1px solid black;
height:50px;
width:50px;
clip: rect(auto,auto,auto,-11px);
}
Sample: http://jsfiddle.net/treeface/UJNcf/6/
From the CSS3 spec:
The computed values of
overflow-x
andoverflow-y
are the same as their specified values, except that some combinations withvisible
are not possible: if one is specified asvisible
and the other isscroll
orauto
, thenvisible
is set toauto
. The computed value ofoverflow
is equal to the computed value ofoverflow-x
ifoverflow-y
is the same; otherwise it is the pair of computed values ofoverflow-x
andoverflow-y
.
From this it would seem that some combinations of overflow-x
& overflow-y
are not valid, and sometimes one will override the other, which would explain what you're seeing here. Though I'm unsure as the wording as a bit unclear and the way browsers actually implement it could vary from the spec (especially when it's hard to decipher).