CSS Layout - float and clear

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Without Clearfix

With Clearfix

Then we can add overflow: auto; to the containing element to fix this problem:

.clearfix {
  overflow: auto;
}

The overflow: auto clearfix works well as long as you are able to keep control of your margins and padding (else you might see scrollbars). The new, modern clearfix hack however, is safer to use, and the following code is used for most webpages:

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

You will learn more about the ::after pseudo-element in a later chapter.

Grid of Boxes / Equal Width Boxes

With the float property, it is easy to float boxes of content side by side:

* {
  box-sizing: border-box;
}
.box {
  float: left;
  width: 33.33%; /* three boxes (use 25% for four, and 50% for two, etc) */
  padding: 50px; /* if you want space between the images */
}

What is box-sizing?
You can easily create three floating boxes side by side. However, when you add something that enlarges the width of each box (e.g. padding or borders), the box will break. The box-sizing property allows us to include the padding and border in the box's total width (and height), making sure that the padding stays inside of the box and that it does not break.
You can read more about the box-sizing property in our CSS Box Sizing Chapter.

Images Side By Side

The grid of boxes can also be used to display images side by side:

.img-container {
  float: left;
  width: 33.33%; /* three containers (use 25% for four, and 50% for two, etc) */
  padding: 5px; /* if you want space between the images */
}

Equal Height Boxes

In the previous example, you learned how to float boxes side by side with an equal width. However, it is not easy to create floating boxes with equal heights. A quick fix however, is to set a fixed height, like in the example below:

.box {
  height: 300px;
}

However, this is not very flexible. It is ok if you can guarantee that the boxes will always have the same amount of content in them. But many times, the content is not the same. If you try the example above on a mobile phone, you will see that the second box's content will be displayed outside of the box. This is where CSS3 Flexbox comes in handy - as it can automatically stretch boxes to be as long as the longest box:

Navigation Menu

Use float with a list of hyperlinks to create a horizontal menu:

All CSS Float Properties