How to make a page expand with content HTML/CSS?

Question

Basically my page consists of

a) a main div, #main b) a header, #header c) a div, #contain d) a footer, #footer

The content of the page goes into the contain div.

Code:

#main{
    position: absolute;
    top: 0px;
    left: 15%;
    width: 70%;
    min-height: 100%;
    border: 1px solid black;

    }

    #header{
    position: relative;
    top: 0px;
    left: 0px;
    width: 100%;
    height: 100px;
    }

    #contain{
    position: relative;
    top: 40px;
    padding-top: 20px;
    left: 5%;
    width: 90%;
    min-height: 600px;
    border:1px solid green;

    } 


    #footer{
    width: 100%;
    height: 5%;
    bottom: 0;
    border-top: 1px dotted black;
    position: absolute;
    }

As you can see the contain div has a min height of 600px. This expands correctly when the page fills but it expands out past the footer and out of the "main" div.

Obviously I want the footer to remain at the bottom of the main at all times, but the main just doesn't expand according the the contain div even though it has a min height of 100% of the page.

Answer 1

Set your #bottom div as relative with static-height like 50px or 100px and remove #main min-height.

http://jsfiddle.net/JH2q9/3/

#main {
    position: absolute;
    top: 0px;
    left: 15%;
    width: 70%;
    border: 1px solid black;
}
#contain {
    position: relative;
    left: 5%;
    width: 90%;
    border: 1px solid green;
    /* min-height: 1000px; yes, its work if you need that */
} 
#footer {
    width: 100%;
    height: 50px;
    bottom: 0;
    border-top: 1px dotted black;
    margin-top: 10px;
    position: relative;
}