Dynamic container help

Hello all,

I'm trying to create a site using all css positioning but I'm running into some problems that to me, shouldn't even be problems.

The main issue I'm having is getting a container div's height to expand based on the height of divs nested inside the container. Vut all I get is the nested divs flowing outside of the container div.

I don't have any code to share, because I have it so screwed up right now it wouldn't even help explain my issue.

I'm going for a 3 column design, that is wrapped by said container div, and the container divs height would be based on the height of the longest div nested within.

I've done alot of searching on the web, and the answer seems to be that this can't be done. But I'm giving it one more try here.

I'm also a bit confused about relative positioning. Say that my conatiner div actually worked, and the height adjusted appropriatly. I have a left column, and a right column. both are position relative to the container. But when I do this, it seems to come out that the right columns top positioning is relative to the left columns positioning.

If I design everything based on viewable browser area, and allow scrolling when necassery, css is a dream. But thats not very practical. It seems that css great for static websites, but not quite up to par for anything dynamic.

Once I calm down and I'm not so frustrated, I'll start over and post some code if my explaination isn't descriptive enough.

Any input would be appreciated!

:-)

Using CSS for positioning has a lot of gotchas if you're coming from tables. It has a lot of gotchas if you learn it on an obsolete browser like IE. CSS positioning requires a different approach. For example, look at my float demo and my nested boxes demo. See Big John's site for some very thorough explanations.

BTW, relative positioning means the element is in its natural position in the flow and its position is relative to itself.

*edit: As I think about it, you've probably got your cascades backward.

cheers,

gary

Thanks for your reply Gary! The links are helpful. I see I need some practice.

:-)