Vertical space on elements with position:absolute

Question

How can I make elements with position:absolute and dynamic height occupy vertical space using only css? Is there any trick with containers and display that I can use?

Answer 1

Unfortunately, using absolute positioning means, by definition, that your element is no longer taking up space. So no, only through css there is no way to do this.

You can of course use jQuery (or plain javascript) to accomplish this. How I'd do it is have a space element next to each vertical element. Enclose both the space element and the absolutely positioned vertical element in a relatively positioned div. On page load, change the height of the space element to match the height of the vertical element.

Answer 2

position: absolute means they don't occupy space in the flow. However, you don't have to animate using margin, you can use float to let the elements take up whatever space, and make each of the elements position:relative.

div.animate-me {
   width: 300px;
   margin: 20px;
   float: left;
   left: -1000px; // Make them start offscreen
   position: relative;
   border: 1px solid red;
   visibility: hidden
}​

$('div').css().animate({
    left: 0
});

SAMPLE http://jsfiddle.net/qxzzX/1/