Fixed header, footer with scrollable content

Something like this

<html>
  <body style="height:100%; width:100%">
    <div id="header" style="position:absolute; top:0px; left:0px; height:200px; right:0px;overflow:hidden;"> 
    </div> 
    <div id="content" style="position:absolute; top:200px; bottom:200px; left:0px; right:0px; overflow:auto;"> 
    </div> 
    <div id="footer" style="position:absolute; bottom:0px; height:200px; left:0px; right:0px; overflow:hidden;"> 
    </div>
  </body>
</html>

If you're targeting browsers supporting flexible boxes you could do the following.. http://jsfiddle.net/meyertee/AH3pE/

HTML

<div class="container">
    <header><h1>Header</h1></header>
    <div class="body">Body</div>
    <footer><h3>Footer</h3></footer>
</div>

CSS

.container {
    width: 100%;
    height: 100%;
    display: flex;
    flex-direction: column;
    flex-wrap: nowrap;
}

header {
    flex-shrink: 0;
}
.body{
    flex-grow: 1;
    overflow: auto;
    min-height: 2em;
}
footer{
    flex-shrink: 0;
}

Update:
See "Can I use" for browser support of flexible boxes.


Approach 1 - flexbox

It works great for both known and unknown height elements. Make sure to set the outer div to height: 100%; and reset the default margin on body. See the browser support tables.

jsFiddle

html, body {
  height: 100%;
  margin: 0;
}
.wrapper {
  height: 100%;
  display: flex;
  flex-direction: column;
}
.header, .footer {
  background: silver;
}
.content {
  flex: 1;
  overflow: auto;
  background: pink;
}
<div class="wrapper">
  <div class="header">Header</div>
  <div class="content">
    <div style="height:1000px;">Content</div>
  </div>
  <div class="footer">Footer</div>
</div>

Approach 2 - CSS table

For both known and unknown height elements. It also works in legacy browsers including IE8.

jsFiddle

html, body {
  height: 100%;
  margin: 0;
}
.wrapper {
  height: 100%;
  width: 100%;
  display: table;
}
.header, .content, .footer {
  display: table-row;
}
.header, .footer {
  background: silver;
}
.inner {
  display: table-cell;
}
.content .inner {
  height: 100%;
  position: relative;
  background: pink;
}
.scrollable {
  position: absolute;
  left: 0; right: 0;
  top: 0; bottom: 0;
  overflow: auto;
}
<div class="wrapper">
  <div class="header">
    <div class="inner">Header</div>
  </div>
  <div class="content">
    <div class="inner">
      <div class="scrollable">
        <div style="height:1000px;">Content</div>
      </div>
    </div>
  </div>
  <div class="footer">
    <div class="inner">Footer</div>
  </div>
</div>

Approach 3 - calc()

If header and footer are fixed height, you can use CSS calc().

jsFiddle

html, body {
  height: 100%;
  margin: 0;
}
.wrapper {
  height: 100%;
}
.header, .footer {
  height: 50px;
  background: silver;
}
.content {
  height: calc(100% - 100px);
  overflow: auto;
  background: pink;
}
<div class="wrapper">
  <div class="header">Header</div>
  <div class="content">
    <div style="height:1000px;">Content</div>
  </div>
  <div class="footer">Footer</div>
</div>

Approach 4 - % for all

If the header and footer are known height, and they are also percentage you can just do the simple math making them together of 100% height.

html, body {
  height: 100%;
  margin: 0;
}
.wrapper {
  height: 100%;
}
.header, .footer {
  height: 10%;
  background: silver;
}
.content {
  height: 80%;
  overflow: auto;
  background: pink;
}
<div class="wrapper">
  <div class="header">Header</div>
  <div class="content">
    <div style="height:1000px;">Content</div>
  </div>
  <div class="footer">Footer</div>
</div>

jsFiddle

Tags:

Html

Css

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