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position:fixed

By Stephen Bucaro

Default Behavior

When a user srolls the browser window, the contents of the window move in the oposite direction of the scroll bar. Shown below is the code for a webpage containing six div elements and how they would be positioned after the user scrolled the browser window.

<html>
<head>

<style type="text/css">
.myBox
{
background-color:crimson;
border-style:solid;
border-width:1px;
padding:4px;
height:100px;
width:100px;
}
</style>

</head>
<body>

<div class="myBox">Element 1</div>
<div class="myBox">Element 2</div>
<div class="myBox">Element 3</div>
<div class="myBox">Element 4</div>
<div class="myBox">Element 5</div>
<div class="myBox">Element 6</div>

</body>
</html>

Scrolled Browser Window

Fixed Positioning

When you specify an element's position:fixed, you take the element out of the normal flow, and cause it to remain fixed in positioned when the browser window is scrolled. Shown below is the code for a webpage containing six div elements, with one of the div elements position:fixed specified, and how they would be positioned after the user scrolled the browser window.

<html>
<head>

<style type="text/css">
.myBox
{
background-color:crimson;
border-style:solid;
border-width:1px;
padding:4px;
height:100px;
width:100px;
}
.fixedBox
{
background-color:lightskyblue;
border-style:solid;
border-width:1px;
padding:4px;
height:100px;
width:100px;
position:fixed;
}
</style>

</head>
<body>

<div class="myBox">Element 1</div>
<div class="fixedBox">Element 2</div>
<div class="myBox">Element 3</div>
<div class="myBox">Element 4</div>
<div class="myBox">Element 5</div>
<div class="myBox">Element 6</div>

</body>
</html>

Element 2's position fixed

You can use the left and ⁄ or top property to place the element exactly where you want in the browser window, and it will remain at that position regardless of scrolling.

• Note: IE6 and lower do not support fixed positioning, IE7 with "Strict" DOCTYPE does support fixed positioning.

More CSS Quick Reference:
• CSS Units of Measurement
• Set List Bullets Position
• Set the Border Color
• Set the Line Spacing
• Set List Properties
• Set the Text Alignment
• Context selectors
• Set the Border Style
• Set a Fixed Background Image
• Set an Element's Visibility