Html – Border length smaller than div width

csshtml

I have following code

div {
   width:200px;
   border-bottom:1px solid magenta;
   height:50px;   
}

DEMO

The div width is 200px so border-bottom is also 200px but what should I do if I want border-bottom only 100px without changing div width?

Best Answer

You can use pseudoelements. E.g.

div {
  width   : 200px;
  height  : 50px;   
  position: relative;
  z-index : 1;
  background: #eee;
}

div:before {
  content : "";
  position: absolute;
  left    : 0;
  bottom  : 0;
  height  : 1px;
  width   : 50%;  /* or 100px */
  border-bottom:1px solid magenta;
}

<div>Item 1</div>
<div>Item 2</div>

No need to use extra markup for presentational purpose. :after is also supported from IE8.

edit:

if you need a right-aligned border, just change left: 0 with right: 0

if you need a center-aligned border just simply set left: 50px;

2015 update: the flexbox approach

There are two other answers briefly mentioning flexbox; however, that was more than two years ago, and they don't provide any examples. The specification for flexbox has definitely settled now.

Note: Though CSS Flexible Boxes Layout specification is at the Candidate Recommendation stage, not all browsers have implemented it. WebKit implementation must be prefixed with -webkit-; Internet Explorer implements an old version of the spec, prefixed with -ms-; Opera 12.10 implements the latest version of the spec, unprefixed. See the compatibility table on each property for an up-to-date compatibility status.

(taken from https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Guide/CSS/Flexible_boxes)

All major browsers and IE11+ support Flexbox. For IE 10 or older, you can use the FlexieJS shim.

To check current support you can also see here: http://caniuse.com/#feat=flexbox

Working example

With flexbox you can easily switch between any of your rows or columns either having fixed dimensions, content-sized dimensions or remaining-space dimensions. In my example I have set the header to snap to its content (as per the OPs question), I've added a footer to show how to add a fixed-height region and then set the content area to fill up the remaining space.

html,
body {
  height: 100%;
  margin: 0;
}

.box {
  display: flex;
  flex-flow: column;
  height: 100%;
}

.box .row {
  border: 1px dotted grey;
}

.box .row.header {
  flex: 0 1 auto;
  /* The above is shorthand for:
  flex-grow: 0,
  flex-shrink: 1,
  flex-basis: auto
  */
}

.box .row.content {
  flex: 1 1 auto;
}

.box .row.footer {
  flex: 0 1 40px;
}

<!-- Obviously, you could use HTML5 tags like `header`, `footer` and `section` -->

<div class="box">
  <div class="row header">
    <p><b>header</b>
      <br />
      <br />(sized to content)</p>
  </div>
  <div class="row content">
    <p>
      <b>content</b>
      (fills remaining space)
    </p>
  </div>
  <div class="row footer">
    <p><b>footer</b> (fixed height)</p>
  </div>
</div>

In the CSS above, the flex property shorthands the flex-grow, flex-shrink, and flex-basis properties to establish the flexibility of the flex items. Mozilla has a good introduction to the flexible boxes model.

Html – How to make a div not larger than its contents

The solution is to set your div to display: inline-block.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Html – Make a div fill the height of the remaining screen space

2015 update: the flexbox approach

Working example

Html – How to make a div not larger than its contents

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