Flexible width of middle column with CSS - html

Question

I have a three column layoyut - left, middle and right.
<div id="content-area" class="clearfix">
<div id="content-left"><img src="fileadmin/billeder/logo.jpg" width="180" height="35" alt=""></div>
<div id="content-middle"><f:format.html>{content_middle}</f:format.html></div>
<div id="content-right">
<f:format.raw>{navigator}</f:format.raw>
<f:format.raw>{content_right}</f:format.raw>
</div>
</div>
with this CSS
#all-wrapper {
width: 960px;
margin: 0 auto;
}
#content-area {
padding: 10px 0;
margin: 5px auto;
}
#content-left {
float: left;
width: 180px;
min-height: 400px;
}
#content-middle {
width: 600px;
text-align: left;
padding: 0 10px;
line-height: 20px;
}
#content-right {
float: right;
min-width: 180px;
min-height: 200px;
text-align: left;
}
Left is 180px, middle is 600px and right is 180px, making it a 960px layout, like this.
http://jsfiddle.net/kxuW6/
For the most part, this works as intendend, but I want the middle column to have a somewhat flexible width according to the content in the right column.
It I put a image in the right column that have a width of 360px, the middle column will be 420px wide.
My problem is that an image with a width more than 180px, fx. 360px, will break the floating of the columns, as per this fiddle
http://jsfiddle.net/5hNy5/
I want it to it to be like this fiddle, but without the fixed width in the middle column.
http://jsfiddle.net/Eqwat/

Answer 1

Use display: table-cell instead of floats...
If you are supporting the more mordern browsers, you can try:
#content-area {
width: 960px;
padding: 10px 0;
margin: 5px auto;
display: table;
border: 1px dashed blue;
}
#content-left {
display: table-cell;
border: 1px dotted blue;
vertical-align: top;
width: 180px;
height: 200px;
}
#content-middle {
display: table-cell;
border: 1px dotted blue;
vertical-align: top;
text-align: left;
padding: 0 10px;
line-height: 20px;
}
#content-middle p {
margin-top: 10px;
}
#content-right {
display: table-cell;
border: 1px dotted blue;
vertical-align: top;
width: 180px;
height: 200px;
text-align: left;
}
The width value for a table-cell acts like a mininum value, so the left and right columns will expand if you insert an image into eithe one and the middle column will adjust to take up the remaining width.
See demo at: http://jsfiddle.net/audetwebdesign/V7YNF/

Answer 2

The shortest form that should solve the above:
HTML:
<div class="area">
<div class="side"></div>
<div>Some content here</div>
<div class="side"></div>
</div>
CSS:
<!-- language: CSS -->
.area {
width: 100%;
display: table;
}
.area > *{
display:table-cell;
}
.side {
width: 100px;
background-color:gray;
}
See this fiddle.

Answer 3

If you are fine with shuffling the source order of the columns, you can relegate #content-middle to the bottom and give it display: block and overflow: hidden.
Markup:
<div id='all-wrapper'>
<div id="content-area" class="clearfix">
<div id="content-left"></div>
<div id="content-right"></div>
<div id="content-middle"></div>
</div>
</div>
CSS
#all-wrapper {
width: 960px;
margin: 0 auto;
}
#content-left {
float: left;
width: 180px;
min-height: 400px;
}
#content-middle {
display: block;
overflow: hidden;
}
#content-right {
float: right;
min-width: 180px;
min-height: 200px;
}
Now the middle-column will take up the available space when the right-column's width changes.
Demo: http://dabblet.com/gist/7200659
Required reading: http://www.stubbornella.org/content/2009/07/23/overflow-a-secret-benefit/