Here is one approach that uses CSS only.
The HTML looks like:
<div id="pageWrapper">
<header>Header</header>
<div id="contentWrapper">
<div class="table-wrap">
<div class="cell col1">
<div class="content">Column 1: Shrink-to-Fit Width</div>
</div>
<div class="cell col2">
<div class="content">Column 2: Variable Width</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div id="footerWrapper">Footer</div>
</div>
and the CSS:
html, body {
height: 100%;
margin: 0;
}
body {
background-color: #E3E3E3;
}
#pageWrapper {
margin: 0 auto;
position: relative;
width: 90%; /*set to 100% or smaller or fixed width... */
height: 100%;
}
header {
display:block;
width: 100%;
height: 100px;
background: yellow;
}
#contentWrapper {
width: 100%;
position: absolute;
top: 100px;
bottom: 100px;
left: 0;
background: beige;
}
#footerWrapper {
width: 100%;
position: absolute;
height: 100px;
bottom: 0px;
left: 0;
background: gray;
}
.table-wrap {
width: 100%;
height: 100%;
}
.table-wrap .cell {
height: 100%;
}
.table-wrap .col1 {
float: left;
border: 1px dotted blue;
max-width: 80%; /* This is critical or else Column 2 can disappear */
}
.table-wrap .col1 .content {
height: inherit;
display: inline-block;
overflow-y: auto;
}
.table-wrap .col2 {
}
.table-wrap .col2 .content {
height: inherit;
overflow-y: auto;
}
See demo at: http://jsfiddle.net/audetwebdesign/kbAwf/
How This Works
Use absolute positioning to place the header, main content area and footer within the view port area.
Within the content area (#contentWrapper
), the .table-wrap
container has two cells, one which is floated left (column 1). This allows column 2 to fill the rest of the width.
To get the shrink-to-fit width for column 1, set display: inline-block
to the inner .content
container.
Finally, use overflow-y: auto
for the scroll bars. (You can also use the scroll value.)
You need to set a maximum width to .col1
so that .col2
does not get pushed out of the view port. I set it to 80% but you can adjust it.
Also, note that an inline-block will expand as much as possible to flow its content, which is why you need to constrain it.
You man want to set a minimum width on #pageWrapper
to prevent the layout from shrinking to something that is less than useful.