How to make a div with no content have a width?

Question

I am trying to add a width to a div, but I seem to be running into a problem because it has no content.

Here is the CSS and HTML I have so far, but it is

Answer 1

Use min-height: 1px; Everything has at least min-height of 1px so no extra space is taken up with nbsp or padding, or being forced to know the height first.