How to create div to fill all space between header and footer div

To expand on Mitchel Sellers answer, give your content div height: 100% and give it a auto margin.

For a full explanation and example, see Ryan Fait's CSS Sticky Footer.

Since you know the size (height) of your header, put it inside the content div (or use margins).

Position absolute will give you problems if your content is larger (taller) than the window.


Flexbox solution

Using flex layout we can achieve this while allowing for natural height header and footer. Both the header and footer will stick to the top and bottom of the viewport respectively (much like a native mobile app) and the main content area will fill the remaining space, while any vertical overflow will be scrollable within that area.

See JS Fiddle

HTML

<body>
  <header>
    ...
  </header>
  <main>
    ...
  </main>
  <footer>
    ...
  </footer>
</body>

CSS

html, body {
  margin: 0;
  height: 100%;
  min-height: 100%;
}

body {
  display: flex;
  flex-direction: column;
}

header,
footer {
  flex: none;
}

main {
  overflow-y: scroll;
  -webkit-overflow-scrolling: touch;
  flex: auto;
}

To summarize (and this came from the CSS Sticky Footer link provided by Traingamer), this is what I used:

html, body 
{ 
    height: 100%; 
} 

#divHeader
{
    height: 100px;
}

#divContent
{
    min-height: 100%; 
    height: auto !important; /*Cause footer to stick to bottom in IE 6*/
    height: 100%; 
    margin: 0 auto -100px; /*Allow for footer height*/
    vertical-align:bottom;
}

#divFooter, #divPush
{
    height: 100px; /*Push must be same height as Footer */
}

<div id="divContent">
    <div id="divHeader">
        Header
    </div>

    Content Text

    <div id="divPush"></div>
</div>
<div id="divFooter">
    Footer
</div>

Tags:

Css

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