Fill remaining vertical space - only CSS

Question

I need to fill the remaining vertical space of #wrapper under #first with #second div.

I need an only CSS solution.

#wrapper {
  width: 300px;
  height: 100%;
}

#first {
  width: 300px;
  height: 200px;
  background-color: #F5DEB3;
}

#second {
  width: 300px;
  height: 100%;
  background-color: #9ACD32;
}

<div id="wrapper">
  <div id="first"></div>
  <div id="second"></div>
</div>

Answer 1

You can do this with position:absolute; on the #second div like this :

FIDDLE

CSS :

#wrapper{
    position:relative;
}

#second {
    position:absolute;
    top:200px;
    bottom:0;
    left:0;
    width:300px;
    background-color:#9ACD32;
}

EDIT : Alternative solution

Depending on your layout and the content you have in those divs, you could make it much more simple and with less markup like this :

FIDDLE

HTML :

<div id="wrapper">
    <div id="first"></div>
</div>

CSS :

#wrapper {
    height:100%;
    width:300px;
    background-color:#9ACD32;
}
#first {
    background-color:#F5DEB3;
    height: 200px;
}

Answer 2

You can use CSS Flexbox instead another display value, The Flexbox Layout (Flexible Box) module aims at providing a more efficient way to lay out, align and distribute space among items in a container, even when their size is unknown and/or dynamic.

Example

/* CONTAINER */
#wrapper
{
   width:300px;
   height:300px;
    display: -webkit-box; /* OLD - iOS 6-, Safari 3.1-6 */
    display: -moz-box; /* OLD - Firefox 19- (buggy but mostly works) */
    display: -ms-flexbox; /* TWEENER - IE 10 */
    display: -webkit-flex; /* NEW - Chrome */
    display: flex; /* NEW, Spec - Opera 12.1, Firefox 20+ */
    -ms-flex-direction: column;
    -moz-flex-direction: column;
    -webkit-flex-direction: column;
    flex-direction: column;
}

/* SOME ITEM CHILD ELEMENTS */
#first
{
   width:300px;
    height: 200px;
   background-color:#F5DEB3;

}

#second
{
   width:300px;
   background-color: #9ACD32;
    -webkit-box-flex: 1; /* OLD - iOS 6-, Safari 3.1-6 */
    -moz-box-flex: 1; /* OLD - Firefox 19- */
    -webkit-flex: 1; /* Chrome */
    -ms-flex: 1; /* IE 10 */
    flex: 1; /* NEW, */
}

jsfiddle Example

If you want to have full support for old browsers like IE9 or below, you will have to use a polyfills like flexy, this polyfill enable support for Flexbox model but only for 2012 spec of flexbox model.

Recently I found another polyfill to help you with Internet Explorer 8 & 9 or any older browser that not have support for flexbox model, I still have not tried it but I leave the link here

You can find a usefull and complete Guide to Flexbox model by Chris Coyer here

Answer 3

Flexbox solution

html, body {
  height: 100%;
}

.wrapper {
  display: flex;
  flex-direction: column;
  width: 300px;
  height: 100%;
}

.first {
  height: 50px;
}

.second {
  flex-grow: 1;
}

<div class="wrapper">
  <div class="first" style="background:#b2efd8">First</div>
  <div class="second" style="background:#80c7cd">Second</div>
</div>

Answer 4

If you can add an extra couple of divs so your html looks like this:

<div id="wrapper">
    <div id="first" class="row">
        <div class="cell"></div>
    </div>
    <div id="second" class="row">
        <div class="cell"></div>
    </div>
</div>

You can make use of the display:table properties:

#wrapper
{
   width:300px;
   height:100%;
   display:table;
}

.row 
{
   display:table-row;
}

.cell 
{
   display:table-cell;
}

#first .cell
{
   height:200px;
   background-color:#F5DEB3;
}

#second .cell
{
   background-color:#9ACD32;
}

Example

Answer 5

Have you tried changing the wrapper height to vh instead of %?

#wrapper {
width:300px;
height:100vh;
}

That worked great for me when I wanted to fill my page with a gradient background for instance...

Answer 6

All you need is a bit of improved markup. Wrap the second within the first and it will render under.

<div id="wrapper">
    <div id="first">
        Here comes the first content
        <div id="second">I will render below the first content</div>
    </div>
</div>

Demo

Answer 7

If you don't want to have fix heights for your main-container (top, bottom, ....), you can simply use this css-file to get a flex-container which uses the remaining space incl. working!!! scrollbars

Fiddler

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html >
<head>
    <title>Flex Container</title>
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="http://demo.qooxdoo.org/5.0/framework/indigo-5.0.css">

  <style>
    .cont{
        background-color: blue;
        position: absolute;
        height: 100%;
        width: 100%;
    }

    .headerContainer {
        background-color: green;
        height: 100px;
        width: 100%;
    }

    .mainContainer {
        background-color: white;
        width: 100%;
        overflow: scroll
    }

    .footerContainer {
        background-color: gray;
        height: 100px;
        width: 100%;
    }
  </style>


  </head>

<body class="qx-flex-ready" style="height: 100%">
  <div class="qx-vbox cont">
    <div class="headerContainer">Cell 1: flex1</div>
    <div class="mainContainer qx-flex3">
    x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>
    x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>
    x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>
    x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>
    x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>x<br>

    </div>
    <div class="footerContainer" >Cell 3: flex1</div>
  </div>
</body>
</html>

Answer 8

You can just add the overflow:auto option:

#second
{
   width:300px;
   height:100%;
   overflow: auto;
   background-color:#9ACD32;
}

Answer 9

you need javascript and some client side calculations: http://jsfiddle.net/omegaiori/NERE8/2/

you will need jquery to effectively achieve what you want. this function is very simple but very effective:

(function () {


    var heights = $("#wrapper").outerHeight(true);
    var outerHeights = $("#first").outerHeight(true);
    jQuery('#second').css('height', (heights - outerHeights) + "px");

})();

first it detects the wrapper height, as it is set to 100% it's different everytime (it depends on what screen you are landing). in the second step it gives the #second div the appropriate height subtracting from the wrapper height the #first div height. the result is the available height left in the wrapper div