In article
<c1************ *************** *******@b64g200 0hsa.googlegrou ps.com>,
Dave Rado <da*******@dsl. pipex.comwrote:
I've found the answer - the solution is described at http://tinyurl.com/a8u5w
. It is almost identical to the method I was using but it includes the
following addtional line:
* html #nonFooter {height: 100%;}
With the addtion of this line, it works in all browsers including
IE5.5. I don't understand why it works though - does anyone understand
the significance of the asterix? And of what the difference is between
#nonFooter and * html #nonFooter?
Morning, Dave. The asterisk in css is a universal selector and unless it
is over-ruled later in the style sheet will have all elements following
its dictates. Thus, to look at a common example, * {margin: 0; padding:
0;} causes all margins and paddings to be set to zero.[1]
The asterisk before the html element is an interesting case and it is
used to take advantage of what has appeared to almost everyone (except
me to a certain extent[2]) as a bad misconception of Internet Explorer
prior to version 7. Because IE is the only truly religious browserit
alone recognises an element higher than the html element, and so it
takes note of the style concerned. Whereas other more atheistic browsers
ignore such babble. This enables authors to talk to IE and tell it to do
things that will not bugger up the other heathen browsers.
------
1. This is something to be done with caution as it then requires the
author to supply all the margins and paddings that were supplied by a
default style sheet (or styles supplied by the browser code).
2. Because of my very deep studies into the mysteries of the html
element and beyond, I have caught glimpses of the Beyond that IE6 (and
lower) instinctively know about. In my case, I have had work hard in a
field that is unnatural to me. I wear a special black cape and a sort of
wizard's hat in my pursuit of what I am calling Root Studies.
--
dorayme