CSS Sticky Footer

Keep Footer On Bottom

Several methods exist for keeping the footer content on the bottom. Some use JavaScript or server-side programming. CSS can be used to position the footer on the bottom.

All methods for keeping the footer on the bottom need to know the specific height of the page. CSS can utilize absolute positioning, but a simpler method exists using negative margins.

This tutorial uses the HTML and CSS height function. The CSS height property is used to keep the footer on the bottom.

Text editor.
HTML.
CSS.

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CSS-Sticky-Footer.html file

<!--
  CSS-Sticky-Footer.html.html
  
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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
	"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">

<head>
	<title>Ojambo.com Sticky Footer Demo</title>
	<style type="text/css">
		html, body { height: 100%; }
		div#main-content { height: 100%; margin-bottom:-70px;}
		div#footer {height: 70px; }
	</style>
</head>

<body>
	<div id="main-content">
		<h1>Ojambo.com Sticky Footer Demo</h1>
	</div>
	<div class="footer">
		<h2>Footer Stays On Bottom</h2>
	</div>	
</body>

</html>

The CSS used an internal style sheet inside the head tags. The body and the main content have heights of 100%. Use the footer height as the margin-bottom negative height.

How to Use:

Run the CSS-Change-Text.html file in your favourite browser.
Hover over the text to see the new (hidden) text.

Demonstration:

Ojambo.com CSS Sticky Footer Tutorial

Image Missing — Ojambo.com CSS Sticky Footer Tutorial

Conclusion:

CSS can be used to position the footer on the bottom of the page. The body of the page and the main content must have the same height. It works by giving the main content a negative vertical margin that equals the footer height.

Use CSS to eliminate the need to run server-side code.
Use CSS to eliminate the need to run JavaScript code.
Do not assume users want or have enable JavaScript.