Are Flexbox and vh height units not compatible in IE11?

html css flexbox internet-explorer-11 viewport-units

32,612

Solution 1

The issue isn't vh units but min-height

I found a semi-working CSS-only solution:

min-height: 100vh;
height: 100px;

The extra height will enable IE to fill the screen vertically even if the content is not tall enough. The drawback is that IE will no longer wrap the content if it's longer than the viewport.

Since this is not enough I made a solution in JS:

Detection

This function tests the bug: true means it's buggy.

function hasBug () {
    // inner should fill outer
    // if inner's height is 0, the browser has the bug

    // set up
    var outer = document.createElement('div');
    var inner = document.createElement('div');
    outer.setAttribute('style', 'display:-ms-flexbox; display:flex; min-height:100vh;');
    outer.appendChild(inner);
    (document.body || document.documentElement).appendChild(outer);

    // test
    var bug = !inner.offsetHeight;

    // remove setup
    outer.parentNode.removeChild(outer);

    return bug;
}

Fix

The fix consists of manually setting the height of the element in px

function fixElementHeight (el) {
    // reset any previously set height
    el.style.height = 'auto'; 

    // get el height (the one set via min-height in vh)
    var height = el.offsetHeight; 

    // manually set it in pixels
    el.style.height = height + 'px'; 
}

The element's height will be set to exactly the height of its content. height is used as a secondary min-height in IE, using the behavior observed in the CSS-only solution.

Usage

Once those two functions are defined, set it up this way:

if(hasBug()) {
    // fix the element now
    fixElementHeight(el);

    // update the height on resize
    window.addEventListener('resize', function () {
        fixElementHeight(el);
    });
}

Demo

function hasBug () {
    // inner should fill outer
    // if inner's height is 0, the browser has the bug

    // set up
    var outer = document.createElement('div');
    var inner = document.createElement('div');
    outer.setAttribute('style', 'display:-ms-flexbox; display:flex; min-height:100vh;');
    outer.appendChild(inner);
    (document.body || document.documentElement).appendChild(outer);

    // test
    var bug = !inner.offsetHeight;

    // remove setup
    outer.parentNode.removeChild(outer);

    return bug;
}

function fixElementHeight (el) {
    // reset any previously set height
    el.style.height = 'auto'; 

    // get el height (the one set via min-height in vh)
    var height = el.offsetHeight; 

    // manually set it in pixels
    el.style.height = height + 'px'; 
}

var output = document.getElementById('output');
output.innerHTML = hasBug()?'Browser is buggy':'Browser works correctly';


var el = document.getElementById('flex');

if(hasBug()) {
  // fix the element now
  fixElementHeight(el);

  // update the height on resize
  window.addEventListener('resize', function () {
    fixElementHeight(el);
  });
}

.half-screen {
  display:-ms-flexbox;
  display: flex;
  min-height: 50vh;

  padding: 10px;
  background: #97cef0;
}


.content {
  padding: 10px;
  background: #b5daf0;
}

The inner box should fill the outer box vertically, even if the browser is buggy.
<div class="half-screen" id="flex">
  <div class="content" id="output">
    Text
  </div>
</div>

Solution 2

I came across this same bug yesterday and couldn't solve it by myself either. Unfortunately, seems nothing can be done about it, at the moment, because it's IE bug, which have been reported to the Microsoft developers almost a year ago, here:

https://connect.microsoft.com/IE/feedback/details/802625/min-height-and-flexbox-flex-direction-column-dont-work-together-in-ie-10-11-preview

Solution 3

The trick I've found to getting sticky footers working in IE11 is to make sure flex-basis is 100% or even 100vh. Please see an example below or a live Codepen example that you can test in IE11.

html {
  display: flex;
  flex-direction: column;
}

body {
  display: flex;
  flex-direction: column;
  flex-grow: 1;
  flex-basis: 100%;
  min-height: 100vh;
}

header {
  padding: 32px;
  background-color: seagreen;
}

main {
  flex-grow: 1;
  padding: 32px;
  background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05);
}

footer {
  padding: 32px;
  background-color: coral;
}

<header>
  Header
</header>
<main>
  <p>I will not skateboard in the halls.</p>
  <p>I will not skateboard in the halls.</p>
  <p>I will not skateboard in the halls.</p>
  <p>I will not skateboard in the halls.</p>
  <p>I will not skateboard in the halls.</p>
  <p>I will not skateboard in the halls.</p>
  <p>I will not skateboard in the halls.</p>
  <p>I will not skateboard in the halls.</p>
  <p>I will not skateboard in the halls.</p>
  <p>I will not skateboard in the halls.</p>
  <p>I will not skateboard in the halls.</p>
</main>
<footer>
  Footer
</footer>

32,612

Author by

Admin

Updated on September 26, 2020

Comments

Admin over 3 years
I'm trying to use a flexbox-based layout to get a sticky footer for my page. This works well in Chrome and Firefox, but in IE11 the footer sits just after my main content. In other words, the main content isn't stretched to fill all of the available space.
```
body {
    border: red 1px solid;
    min-height: 100vh;
    display: -ms-flexbox;
    display: -webkit-flex;
    display: flex;
    -ms-flex-direction: column;
    -webkit-flex-direction: column;
    flex-direction: column;
}
header, footer  {
    background: #dd55dd;
}
main {
    background: #87ccfc;
    -ms-flex: 1 0 auto;
    -webkit-flex: 1 0 auto;
    flex: 1 0 auto;
}
```
```
<body>
    <header role="banner"><h1> .. </h1></header>
    <main role="main">
        <p>.....</p>
    </main>
    <footer>...</footer>
</body>
```
How can I get the main element to stretch in a flex layout when the containers height units are measured in vh in IE? I was looking to see if this behaviour is the result of a bug in the way IE implements the flexbox specs, but I couldn't find any mention of this problem elsewhere.

JSFiddle Demo
Vadim Ovchinnikov almost 7 years

You didn't understand requirement. body should occupy at least whole screen, but can take more. This was the purpose of min-height here which is buggy in IE.
Blair Allen over 4 years

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction, @souporserious. However, what actually worked for me was just adding the display: flex and flex-direction: column lines to the html CSS element. Adding flex-basis: 100% to the body CSS element didn't make any difference in IE11, or modern browsers, for that matter.
MomasVII over 4 years

As well as height:100px I found adding overflow-y:auto to my main content area worked fine across all browsers.