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inconsistent float behavior regarding parent elements

Sent by Zoe Gillenwater on 30 September 2003 20:08


I am having some inconsistent float behavior within the same browser 
that is really puzzling me, and I was wondering if someone knew why it 
does one thing one time and another the next.

Based on what I've read about the float property, at w3c and various 
tutorials, applying float to a block removes it from the normal flow of 
the page.  This means that if the content of the float makes it larger 
than its parent, it will overlap the boundaries of its containing 
element/parent.  Right?

I see this behavior on the following page:
http://www.walkableamerica.org/testarea/partners.htm
(CSS at http://www.walkableamerica.org/testarea/pwa_style.css)

Notice how the little logos in the middle of the page break out of the 
gray bordered box that they are contained in.  This seems to fit with 
the standard, but I don't like it.

However, in the same browser I see very different results for the same 
code on the following page:
http://www.walkableamerica.org/testarea/test_float.htm
(CSS at http://www.walkableamerica.org/testarea/test_float.css)

Notice here how the red bordered box named "maintext" pushes the borders 
of its contained orange bordered box out to accomodate it, even though 
it is a float.

Both pages have the same code: container div with two divs nested, one 
floating left.  But they render completely differently, not 
cross-browser, but within the same browser!  The behavior that I like is 
the second: the container box pushes out to accomodate the nested float, 
even though this isn't the correct behavior, as I understand.  Does 
anyone know why it is doing it, so I can replicate the behavior?

FYI: If anyone is curious why I am mixing tables with CSS positioning on 
the first page example, it is only because I am on a tight deadline.  
I'm still looking for help with the second page though, so any 
suggestions there are very welcome!  I would love to get everything 
working in pure CSS, but the test_float page is too much of a mess right 
now in NN4 to be useable!

Thanks!
Zoe

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