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CSS

Posted by Satya Roman
Satya Roman
3,632 Points

Why doesn't it work to apply only to .primary float: left ?

I was just wondering why I am not able to just apply float: left to the .primary column and then by that I've thought the following content should automatically flow around it ?

I mean its clearly not working but I can't just get into my head why. Why do I also need to apply to .secondary float: left aswell ?

1 Answer

Matt Brock
Matt Brock
28,330 Points
Matt Brock
Matt Brock
28,330 Points

Hey Satya, floats are a bit tricky. Floating an element removes it from the normal document flow. You have to make sure a floated element's container is "cleared" to ensure that things don't break. I like to use a CSS utility class to be able to quickly apply a "clearfix" to any containing element so that its children can be properly floated. Here's the one I use for my projects:

.clearfix:after {
  content: "";
  display: table;
  clear: both;
}

If I want .element to float left, then I would just do this in my CSS:

.element {
  float: left:
  width: 200px;
  /* other styles */
}

... and this in my HTML markup:

<div class="clearfix">
  <div class="element">
    <!-- content here -->
  </div>
</div>