CSS : clear floats

Elements following a floated element will wrap around the floated element. To disable wrapping, you can apply the “clear” property to these following elements. The standard method is to place a complete “cleared” element last in the container :

<div style="clear:both;"></div>

To clear CSS floats without this extra markup you can use the following techniques :

  • Float the container as well
  • Use overflow: hidden on the container
  • Generate content using the :after CSS pseudo-class

A very detailed tutorial about Floats has been published by Vitaly Friedman, editor-in-chief of the Smashing Magazine.

Other useful tutorials are :