Why doesn't height: 100% work to expand divs to the screen height?

360
votes

I want the carousel DIV (s7) to expand to the height of the entire screen. I haven't an idea as to why it's not succeeding. To see the page you can go here.

body {
  height: 100%;
  color: #FFF;
  font: normal 28px/28px'HelveticaWorldRegular', Helvetica, Arial, Sans-Serif;
  background: #222 url('') no-repeat center center fixed;
  overflow: hidden;
  background-size: cover;
  margin: 0;
  padding: 0;
}
.holder {
  height: 100%;
  margin: auto;
}
#s7 {
  width: 100%;
  height: 100%: margin: auto;
  overflow: hidden;
  z-index: 1;
}
#s7 #posts {
  width: 100%;
  min-height: 100%;
  color: #FFF;
  font-size: 13px;
  text-align: left;
  line-height: 16px;
  margin: auto;
  background: #AAA;
}
<div class="nav">
  <a class="prev2" id="prev2" href="#">
    <img src="http://static.tumblr.com/ux4v5bf/ASslogxz4/left.png">
  </a>
  <a class="next2" id="next2" href="#">
    <img src="http://static.tumblr.com/ux4v5bf/swslogxmg/right.png">
  </a>
</div>

<div class="holder">
  <tr>
    <td>
      <div id="s7">
        {block:Posts}
        <div id="posts">
11
htmlcssheight
Here's a simple and clear explanation: stackoverflow.com/a/31728799/3597276 – Michael Benjamin
probably best solution for nested elements that should not stretch to entire window's height stackoverflow.com/questions/7049875/height-100-not-working/… – B-GangsteR

11 Answers

490
votes

In order for a percentage value to work for height, the parent's height must be determined. The only exception is the root element <html>, which can be a percentage height. .

So, you've given all of your elements height, except for the <html>, so what you should do is add this:

html {
    height: 100%;
}

And your code should work fine.

* { padding: 0; margin: 0; }
html, body, #fullheight {
    min-height: 100% !important;
    height: 100%;
}
#fullheight {
    width: 250px;
    background: blue;
}
<div id=fullheight>
  Lorem Ipsum        
</div>

JsFiddle example.

170
votes

Since nobody has mentioned this..

Modern Approach:

As an alternative to setting both the html/body element's heights to 100%, you could also use viewport-percentage lengths:

5.1.2. Viewport-percentage lengths: the ‘vw’, ‘vh’, ‘vmin’, ‘vmax’ units

The viewport-percentage lengths are relative to the size of the initial containing block. When the height or width of the initial containing block is changed, they are scaled accordingly.

In this instance, you could use the value 100vh (which is the height of the viewport) - (example)

body {
    height: 100vh;
}

Setting a min-height also works. (example)

body {
    min-height: 100vh;
}

These units are supported in most modern browsers - support can be found here.

27
votes

You will also need to set 100% height on the html element:

html { height:100%; }
23
votes

Alternatively, if you use position: absolute then height: 100% will work just fine.

9
votes

You should try with the parent elements;

html, body, form, main {
    height: 100%;
}

Then this will be enough :

#s7 {
   height: 100%;
}
6
votes

if you want, for example, a left column (height 100%) and the content (height auto) you can use absolute :

#left_column {
    float:left;
    position: absolute;
    max-height:100%;
    height:auto !important;
    height: 100%;
    overflow: hidden;

    width : 180px; /* for example */
}

#left_column div {
    height: 2000px;
}

#right_column {
    float:left;
    height:100%;
    margin-left : 180px; /* left column's width */
}

in html :

  <div id="content">
      <div id="left_column">
        my navigation content
        <div></div>
      </div>

      <div id="right_column">
        my content
      </div>
   </div>
2
votes

This may not be ideal but you can allways do it with javascript. Or in my case jQuery

<script>
var newheight = $('.innerdiv').css('height');
$('.mainwrapper').css('height', newheight);
</script>
2
votes

If you absolutely position the elements inside the div, you can set the padding top and bottom to 50%.

So something like this:

#s7 {
    position: relative;
    width:100%;
    padding: 50% 0;
    margin:auto;
    overflow: hidden;
    z-index:1;
}
1
votes

In the page source I see the following:

<div class="holder"> 
    <div id="s7" style="position: relative; width: 1366px; height: 474px; overflow: hidden;">

If you put the height value in the tag, it will use this instead of the height defined in the css file.

1
votes

Here's another solution for people who don't want to use html, body, .blah { height: 100% }.

.app {
  position: fixed;
  left: 0;
  right: 0;
  top: 0;
  bottom: 0;
  overflow-y: auto;
}

.full-height {
  height: 100%;
}

.test {
  width: 10px;
  background: red;
}
<div class="app">
  <div class="full-height test">
  </div>
  Scroll works too
</div>
0
votes

Try to play around also with the calc and overflow functions

.myClassName {
    overflow: auto;
    height: calc(100% - 1.5em);
}