The key to note here is the height of the footer is not going to be fixed, but will vary with its content.
When I say “sticky footer,” I use it in what I understand
You can stick the footer to the bottom of the viewport just with:
position: fixed;
bottom: 0;
However that will make it appear even if there's content.
To prevent this, you will need some JavaScript:
(window.onscroll = function() {
var foot = document.getElementById('footer');
foot.style.position = "static";
if( foot.offsetTop < document.documentElement.scrollTop + document.body.scrollTop + document.documentElement.offsetHeight - foot.offsetHeight)
foot.style.position = "fixed";
})();
(The (...)();
wrapper makes the onscroll function get called once when the page loads, since that's needed too)
(The above function is untested, but should work - if it doesn't, let me know and I'll make an actual test page)
You can absolutely do this in pure CSS. Clicky the linky.
This concept uses display: table-cell
organize your page sections rather than the normal display: block
.
HTML
<body class="Frame">
<header class="Row"><h1>Catchy header</h1></header>
<section class="Row Expand"><h2>Awesome content</h2></section>
<footer class="Row"><h3>Sticky footer</h3></footer>
</body>
CSS
.Frame {
display: table;
table-layout: fixed;
height: 100%;
width: 100%;
}
.Row {
display: table-row;
height: 1px;
}
.Row.Expand {
height: auto;
}
All other solutions here are out of date and either use JavaScript, or table
hacks.
With the advent of the CSS flex model, solving the variable-height sticky footer problem becomes very, very easy: while mostly known for laying out content in the horizontal direction, Flexbox actually works just as well for vertical layout problems. All you have to do is wrap the vertical sections in a flex container and choose which ones you want to expand. They'll automatically take up all the available space in their container.
Note how simple the markup and the CSS are. No table hacks or anything.
The flex model is supported by 96%+ of the browsers in use today.
html, body {
height: 100%;
margin: 0; padding: 0; /* to avoid scrollbars */
}
#wrapper {
display: flex; /* use the flex model */
min-height: 100%;
flex-direction: column; /* learn more: http://philipwalton.github.io/solved-by-flexbox/demos/sticky-footer/ */
}
#header {
background: yellow;
height: 100px; /* can be variable as well */
}
#body {
flex: 1;
border: 1px solid red;
}
#footer{
background: lime;
}
<div id="wrapper">
<div id="header">Title</div>
<div id="body">Body</div>
<div id="footer">
Footer<br/>
of<br/>
variable<br/>
height<br/>
</div>
</div>