Square DIV with Content in a Fluid Layout - html

Question

SO,
I've created a four-column fluid-width layout for a site, and I'm working on placing a fluid square DIV within one of my columns. There are a few techniques I've found to achieve this - namely, setting padding-bottom to the same percentage as the width - but none of these seem to work when the DIV contains content.
Is there a way to maintain a 1:1 (square) ratio on a fluid DIV when that DIV contains content?
Here's my HTML:
<div id="leftmostcolumn">
<div id="logo"></div>
</div>
<div id="leftcolumn"></div>
<div id="rightcolumn"></div>
<div id="rightmostcolumn"></div>
And my CSS:
body {
width: 100%;
height: 100%;
background-color: red;
}
#leftmostcolumn {
position: absolute;
top: 0;
left: 0;
width: 25%;
height: 100%;
background-color: blue;
}
#leftcolumn {
position: absolute;
top: 0;
left: 25%;
width: 25%;
height: 100%;
background-color: green;
}
#rightcolumn {
position: absolute;
top: 0;
left: 50%;
width: 25%;
height: 100%;
background-color: yellow;
}
#rightmostcolumn {
position: absolute;
top: 0;
left: 75%;
width: 25%;
height: 100%;
background-color: gray;
}
#logo {
width:100%;
padding-bottom:100%;
background-color: #aa2d2d;
color: white;
}
​​
And here's a JsFiddle.
The DIV "logo" is the one I'm trying to maintain as a square. Right now, I've used the padding-bottom approach but that doesn't do the trick when there's content in the DIV. Any input is greatly appreciated!
Marca
EDIT:
Getting there...I'm adapting a script I found to find the width of the DIV and then apply that value to the height to keep it a square. However, as it stands now the script doesn't constantly resize the DIV, and it won't allow it to shrink below a certain size. Any thoughts on how to correct either of these issues?
HTML:
<div id="box"></div>
CSS:
​ #box { width: 75%; height: 50px; background-color: black; }​
JQUERY:
$("#box").css("height", function() {
return $(this).width();
});
JsFiddle is here.

Answer 1

This is something I've actually been messing around with for a while, and have come up with a quasi (but not entirely) hacky, CSS-only solution that seems to work on most browsers in the past decade. The trick is to use images, and positioning in a tricky fashion. Consider the following (simplification) of your code.
Markup:
<div class="sqr_box">
your content goes here!
</div>
CSS:
.sqr_box
{
width: 50%; /* or 100px, or 20em, or whatever you want */
border: solid 2px pink;
background-color: grey;
color: white;
}
Now, we can't set the height in terms of percent, so we won't; instead, first we'll go into Photoshop, and make an image that is 2x2 px, transparent, or background-colored. Next we'll add the following to your markup:
<div class="sqr_box">
<img src="images/sizers/2x2.png" class="sizer">
<div class="content">your content goes here!</div>
</div>
and THIS to your CSS:
.sqr_box
{
width: 50%; /* or 100px, or 20em, or whatever you want */
position: relative; /* static positioning is less than ideal for this scenario */
}
.sqr_box > img.sizer
{
display: block; /* images default to an inline-block like thing */
width: 100%;
height: auto; /* CLUTCH!!! this ensures that the image's height changes to maintain proportions with it's width */
visibility: hidden;
}
.sqr_box > .content
{
position: absolute;
top: 0;
left: 0;
width: 100%;
height: 100%; /* Our parent element now has a dynamically assigned height, this will work */
border: solid 2px pink;
background-color: grey;
color: white;
}
Best of all, this will work for any sized ratio of box you'd want! Just change the proportions of the image!
Hope this is all still relevant to you, 3 months later.
-Sandy

Answer 2

Put all four columns in one div. set that div to 100% width and set the font size to 100em
Have each of your four columns have a width of 25em instead of 25%
Have your logo width and height set to 25em each