SOLVED ... I think! After reading some recenet articles at positioniseverything.net I discovered that one method of fixing the IE bug is to use the double-wrapper method: http://www.positioniseverything.net/explorer/percentages.html (down the page)
Not elegant, but works for me in IE5+. The root cause is that I'm using a fluid 3 column layout in which the centre div does not have a fixed width. Setting a relative width on the centre div also caused problems. So I have another div around the table so it can use it as the parent element: <div style="width:100%;"> <table> ... </table> </div> So I can now have the table width set to 100% in CSS without causing any problems. I assume I could also set the table width inline but since that sucks I haven't bothered to confirm it... If there's a better way to do it I'd love to hear about it, but for now it might just help me meet my deadline! Regards, Miles. > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Miles Tillinger > Sent: Wednesday, 17 August 2005 3:27 PM > To: wsg@webstandardsgroup.org > Subject: [WSG] 100% width table inside a DIV > > Hi, > > Consider the following example: > > http://www.streetdaddy.com/temp/index.html > http://www.streetdaddy.com/temp/index.css > > I am developing a site based around this structure, however > something in the complicated CSS of my site is causing it to > not behave the same as this simple example. The basic > problem is that IE5+ is calculating percentage widths based > on the viewport rather than its parent element, so the 100% > width table goes off screen and the floated inner-columns > don't fit next to each other . I have tried and tried to > work out why this is happening, to no avail... Can anyone > fill me in on the nuances of this annoying problem? Will I > need to employ some browser specific hacks? > > The site im developing is slightly sensitive but if needed I > can post up the HTML and CSS for it... > > Cheers, > > Miles. > ****************************************************** > The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ > > See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm > for some hints on posting to the list & getting help > ****************************************************** > > ****************************************************** The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm for some hints on posting to the list & getting help ******************************************************