In a 3-row layout:
A more modern approach would be to use the grid property.
section {
display: grid;
align-items: stretch;
height: 300px;
grid-template-rows: min-content auto 60px;
}
header {
background: tomato;
}
div {
background: gold;
overflow: auto;
}
footer {
background: lightgreen;
}
<section>
<header>
header: sized to content
<br>(but is it really?)
</header>
<div>
main content: fills remaining space<br>
x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>
x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>
x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>
x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>
x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>
</div>
<footer>
footer: fixed height in px
</footer>
</section>
Use the flex-grow
property to the main content div and give the dispaly: flex;
to its parent;
body {
height: 100%;
position: absolute;
margin: 0;
}
section {
height: 100%;
display: flex;
flex-direction : column;
}
header {
background: tomato;
}
div {
flex: 1; /* or flex-grow: 1 */;
overflow-x: auto;
background: gold;
}
footer {
background: lightgreen;
min-height: 60px;
}
<section>
<header>
header: sized to content
<br>(but is it really?)
</header>
<div>
main content: fills remaining space<br>
x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>
x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>
x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>
x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>
x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>
</div>
<footer>
footer: fixed height in px
</footer>
</section>
Here is the codepen demo showing the solution:
Important highlights:
html
, body
, ... .container
, should have the height set to 100%flex
to ANY of the flex items will trigger calculation of the items sizes based on flex distribution:
flex
, for example: flex: 1
then this flex item will occupy the remaining of the spaceflex
property, the calculation will be more complicated. For example, if the item 1 is set to flex: 1
and the item 2 is se to flex: 2
then the item 2 will take twice more of the remaining space
flex-direction
propertyflex
property: https://www.w3.org/TR/css-flexbox-1/#propdef-flex
min-*
and max-*
will be respectedThe example below includes scrolling behaviour if the content of the expanded centre component extends past its bounds. Also the centre component takes 100% of remaining space in the viewport.
jsfiddle here
html, body, .r_flex_container{
height: 100%;
display: flex;
flex-direction: column;
background: red;
margin: 0;
}
.r_flex_container {
display:flex;
flex-flow: column nowrap;
background-color:blue;
}
.r_flex_fixed_child {
flex:none;
background-color:black;
color:white;
}
.r_flex_expand_child {
flex:auto;
background-color:yellow;
overflow-y:scroll;
}
Example of html that can be used to demonstrate this behaviour
<html>
<body>
<div class="r_flex_container">
<div class="r_flex_fixed_child">
<p> This is the fixed 'header' child of the flex container </p>
</div>
<div class="r_flex_expand_child">
<article>this child container expands to use all of the space given to it - but could be shared with other expanding childs in which case they would get equal space after the fixed container space is allocated.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Donec quam felis, ultricies nec, pellentesque eu, pretium quis, sem. Nulla consequat massa quis enim. Donec pede justo, fringilla vel, aliquet nec, vulputate eget, arcu. In enim justo, rhoncus ut, imperdiet a, venenatis vitae, justo. Nullam dictum felis eu pede mollis pretium. Integer tincidunt. Cras dapibus. Vivamus elementum semper nisi. Aenean vulputate eleifend tellus. Aenean leo ligula, porttitor eu, consequat vitae, eleifend ac, enim. Aliquam lorem ante, dapibus in, viverra quis, feugiat a, tellus. Phasellus viverra nulla ut metus varius laoreet. Quisque rutrum. Aenean imperdiet. Etiam ultricies nisi vel augue. Curabitur ullamcorper ultricies nisi. Nam eget dui. Etiam rhoncus. Maecenas tempus, tellus eget condimentum rhoncus, sem quam semper libero, sit amet adipiscing sem neque sed ipsum. Nam quam nunc, blandit vel, luctus pulvinar, hendrerit id, lorem. Maecenas nec odio et ante tincidunt tempus. Donec vitae sapien ut libero venenatis faucibus. Nullam quis ante. Etiam sit amet orci eget eros faucibus tincidunt. Duis leo. Sed fringilla mauris sit amet nibh. Donec sodales sagittis magna. Sed consequat, leo eget bibendum sodales, augue velit cursus nunc,
</article>
</div>
<div class="r_flex_fixed_child">
this is the fixed footer child of the flex container
asdfadsf
<p> another line</p>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>
Make it simple : DEMO
section {
display: flex;
flex-flow: column;
height: 300px;
}
header {
background: tomato;
/* no flex rules, it will grow */
}
div {
flex: 1; /* 1 and it will fill whole space left if no flex value are set to other children*/
background: gold;
overflow: auto;
}
footer {
background: lightgreen;
min-height: 60px; /* min-height has its purpose :) , unless you meant height*/
}
<section>
<header>
header: sized to content
<br/>(but is it really?)
</header>
<div>
main content: fills remaining space<br> x
<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>
<!-- uncomment to see it break -->
x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br> x
<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br> x
<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br> x
<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>
<!-- -->
</div>
<footer>
footer: fixed height in px
</footer>
</section>
Full screen version
section {
display: flex;
flex-flow: column;
height: 100vh;
}
header {
background: tomato;
/* no flex rules, it will grow */
}
div {
flex: 1;
/* 1 and it will fill whole space left if no flex value are set to other children*/
background: gold;
overflow: auto;
}
footer {
background: lightgreen;
min-height: 60px;
/* min-height has its purpose :) , unless you meant height*/
}
body {
margin: 0;
}
<section>
<header>
header: sized to content
<br/>(but is it really?)
</header>
<div>
main content: fills remaining space<br> x
<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>
<!-- uncomment to see it break -->
x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br> x
<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br> x
<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br> x
<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>
<!-- -->
</div>
<footer>
footer: fixed height in px
</footer>
</section>