CSS layout with fixed top and bottom, variable height middle - html

Question

+-------------------+
| Top (fixed) |
+-------------------+
| |
| |
| Middle (fill) |
| |
| |
+-------------------+
| Bottom (fixed) |
+-------------------+
The top and bottom are fixed divs. They are positioned on the top and bottom of browser window. I want the middle part to fill the rest of the window between top and bottom divs.
If it's content is more than its height then i can use scrollbars. But its size should not exceed the window.
My CSS and HTML:
html, body, #main
{
height: 100%;
}
#content
{
background: #F63;
width: 100%;
overflow: auto;
height: 100%;
margin-bottom: -100px;
}
#footer
{
position: fixed;
display: block;
height: 100px;
background: #abcdef;
width: 100%;
}
<div id="main">
<div id="content">xyz</div>
<div id="footer">abc</div>
</div>
From this, the Footer shows in the bottom but, the Content div still fills the whole window which should have been [window-footer] height.

Answer 1

Position the middle div using absolute positioning without specifying height. It does not get much simpler than this:
#header {
position: fixed;
top: 0;
left: 0;
right: 0;
height: 100px;
background-color: #abcdef;
}
#footer {
position: fixed;
bottom: 0;
left: 0;
right: 0;
height: 100px;
background-color: #abcdef;
}
#content {
position: fixed;
top: 100px;
bottom: 100px;
left: 0;
right: 0;
background-color: #F63;
overflow: auto;
}
<div id="header"></div>
<div id="content"></div>
<div id="footer"></div>
Use "Full page" option to view the snippet properly.

Answer 2

If you don't know the header or footer sizes and you can use CSS3 then i would suggest to use flexbox layouting.
Example below (or check fiddle)
HTML:
<div class="container">
<div class="header">header</div>
<div class="content">content</div>
<div class="footer">bottom</div>
</div>
CSS:
.container {
display: flex;
flex-direction: column;
width: 100%;
height: 400px;
}
.header {
flex-grow: 0;
background-color: red;
}
.content {
flex-grow: 1;
background-color: green;
}
.footer {
flex-grow: 0;
background-color: blue;
}

Answer 3

html
<div id="main">
<div id="header"> Header Content</div>
<div id="content">
<ul><li>Hello World!!! </li>
<li>Hello World!!! </li>
<li>Hello World!!! </li>
<li>Hello World!!! </li>
<li>Hello World!!! </li>
</ul>
</div>
<div id="footer">I am Footer
</div>
css
body { margin: 0;}
#main{
position: absolute;
width: 100%;
top: 0;
bottom: 0;}
#header
{
position: absolute;
height: 41px;
top: 0;
left: 0;
right: 0;
text-align:center;
display:block;
background: blue;
}
#content
{
position: absolute;
top: 41px;
bottom: 0;
left: 0;
right: 0;
overflow:scroll;
}
#footer
{
position: absolute;
height: 41px;
bottom: 0;
left: 0;
right: 0;
text-align:center;
display:block;
background: blue;
}
li{
text-decoration: none;
display: block;
height: 20px;
width: 100%;
padding: 20px;
}
JSFIDDLE Demo

Answer 4

I think this is what u want...
JSBin: http://jsbin.com/ebilag/1/
CSS:
html, body {
top: 0;
width: 100%;
height: 100%;
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
}
.top {
position: fixed;
top: 0;
width: 100%;
height: 100px;
background: yellow;
}
.bottom {
position: fixed;
bottom: 0;
width: 100%;
height: 100px;
background: grey;
}
.middle {
padding-top: 100px;
padding-bottom: 100px
}
HTML:
<div class="container">
<div class="top">Top</div>
<div class="middle">Middle</div>
<div class="bottom">Bottom</div>
</div>

Answer 5

If you know the height of the header and the footer...
then you could do this easily with the box-sizing property.
Like so:
FIDDLE1 FIDDLE2
.container
{
height: 100%;
background: pink;
margin: -64px 0;
padding: 64px 0;
-moz-box-sizing: border-box;
box-sizing: border-box;
}
.content {
overflow:auto;
height:100%;
}
header
{
height: 64px;
background: purple;
position: relative;
z-index:1;
}
footer
{
height: 64px;
background: gray;
position: relative;
z-index:1;
}

Answer 6

The solution with top and bottom padding is ok but I would suggest a different approach where the main frame is designed as table. This is more flexible and you can hide head or foot without changing the css.
STYLUS (CSS):
html,
body
height: 100%
.container
display: table
height: 100%
.head,
.foot,
.content
display: table-row
box-sizing: border-box
.head,
.foot
height: 70px
background: #ff0000
.content
overflow: auto
.scroll
height: 100%
overflow: auto
box-sizing: border-box
HTML:
<div class="container">
<div class="head">...</div>
<div class="content">
<div class="scroll">...</div>
</div>
<div class="foot">...</div>
</div>

Answer 7

HTML:
<div id="main">
<div id="header">I am Header
</div>
<div id="content">I am the Content
</div>
<div id="footer">I am Footer
</div>
</div>
CSS:
#main{width:100%;height:100%;}
#header
{
position:relative;
text-align:center;
display:block;
background:#abcdef;
height:40px;
width:100%;
}
#content
{
background: #F63;
width:100%;
text-align:center;
height:auto;
min-height:400px;
}
#footer
{
position:relative;
text-align:center;
display:block;
background:#abcdef;
height:40px;
width:100%;
}
DEMO

Answer 8

In my opinion you should use js/jquery to change the #content height during page load.
This should be something like this (I haven't tested code below, so change it as you need):
$().ready(function(){
var fullHeight= function(){
var h=$(window).height()-100; //100 is a footer height
$('#content').css('min-height',h+'px');
};
$(window).resize(fullHeight);
fullHeight();
});

Answer 9

Please try this:
HTML
<div id="header">
header
</div>
<div id="content">
main content
</div>
<div id="footer">
footer
</div>
CSS
html,body{
marign: 0;
padding: 0;
height: 100%;
}
#header {
height: 100px;
position: fixed;
top: 0;
left:0;
right: 0;
background: orange;
}
#footer {
height: 100px;
position: fixed;
bottom: 0;
left: 0;
right: 0;
background: green;
}
#content {
padding-top: 100px;
padding-bottom: 100px;
height: -webkit-calc(100% - 200px);
height: -moz-calc(100% - 200px);
height: -ms-calc(100% - 200px);
height; -o-calc(100% - 200px);
height: calc(100% - 200px);
background: #ccc;
}
please view the demo.