CSS: auto height on containing div, 100% height on background div inside containing div

Question

The problem, is that I have a content div which stretches its container height-wise (container and content div have auto height).

I want the background container,

Answer 1

Somewhere you will need to set a fixed height, instead of using auto everywhere. You will find that if you set a fixed height on your content and/or container, then using auto for things inside it will work.

Also, your boxes will still expand height-wise with more content in, even though you have set a height for it - so don't worry about that :)

#container {
  height:500px;
  min-height:500px;
}