Peter Velichkov's Blog

Something that really stops tableless layouts is the lack of ability to make two or three columns the same height. There are a lot of tricks but the solution I prefer is with Javascript.

Description of the solution: I used the mootools framework since it provides lots of useful predefined methods, selectors etc.

Usage: Just include the latest mootools js file (don’t need ajax, json, fx and other) and the following js. Than add the class defined in the function (class=”equals” in the example) to the columns you want to be in equal height.

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// This Javascript is written by Peter Velichkov (www.creonfx.com)// and is distributed under the following license : http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
// Use and modify all you want just keep this comment. Thanks
 
function equalHeight(cl){
	var className = '.' + cl;
	var maxHeight = 0;
	$$(className).each(function(el) {
	if (el.offsetHeight & gt; maxHeight) {
		maxHeight = el.offsetHeight;
	}
	});
 
	if ($$('.dummyExtender') != '') {
	$$('.dummyExtender').each(function(el) {
		el.setStyle('height', maxHeight - el.getParent().offsetHeight + el.offsetHeight);
	});
	} else {
	$$(className).each(function(el) {
		var curExtender = new Element('div', {
		'class': 'dummyExtender'
		});
		curExtender.injectInside(el);
		curExtender.setStyle('height', maxHeight - el.offsetHeight);
	});
	}
}
 
window.addEvent('load',function() {
    equalHeight('equals');
});

Example: Equal Height DIV Columns

Update: Also since Internet Explorer 6 adds silly spacing in DIVs add the following lines to your css:

.dummyExtender{
font-size:0;
line-height:0;
padding:0;
margin:0;
}

Tags: div, height, JavaScript, layouts

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 26th, 2007 at 10:21 pm and is filed under JavaScript. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.