Nested Flexbox with Scrolling Area

Nested flexbox with scrolling area

Setting min-height is indeed required, and the correct way to achieve the desired layout. From the spec:

By default, flex items won’t shrink below their minimum content size (the length of the longest word or fixed-size element). To change this, set the min-width or min-height property.

So only by setting min-height do you allow your your <article> to actually make use of flex-shrink and fit into the parent flex container.

If I see this correctly, the issue you see with IE matches the bug described here and acknowledged here:

In IE 10-11, min-height declarations on flex containers in the column direction work to size the containers themselves, but their flex item children do not seem to know the size of their parents. They act as if no height has been set at all.

This might (or might not) encompass issues regarding overflow.

Full page with nested flexbox and scrolling

I got this after a bit of tweaking:

* {
  box-sizing: border-box;
}

html,
body {
  margin: 0;
}

.page {
  width: 100vw;
  height: 100vh;
  display: flex;
  flex-direction: column;
  overflow: hidden;
}

.topbar {
  background-color: lightgreen;
}

.vcontainer {
  flex-grow: 1;
  display: flex;
  flex-direction: row;
  min-height: 0;
}

.sidebar {
  overflow-y: auto;
  background-color: yellow;
}

.content {
  flex-grow: 1;
  overflow: auto;
  background-color: lightblue;
}

.footer {
  background-color: pink;
}

.contentcontainer {
  height: 100%;
}

.contentsub {
  max-height: max(40%, 2rem);
  margin: 1rem;
  overflow-y: scroll;
  background-color: orange;
}

<div class="page">
  <nav class="topbar">
    top bar
  </nav>
  <div class="vcontainer">
    <nav class="sidebar">
      side<br/>side<br/>side
    </nav>
    <main class="content">
      <div class="contentcontainer">
        <div>
          some additional heading content
        </div>
        <div class="contentsub">
          <p>some actual content</p>
          <p>some actual content</p>
          <p>some actual content</p>
          <p>some actual content</p>
          <p>some actual content</p>
          <p>some actual content</p>
          <p>some actual content</p>
          <p>some actual content</p>
          <p>some actual content</p>
          <p>some actual content</p>
          <p>some actual content</p>
          <p>some actual content</p>
          <p>some actual content</p>
          <p>some actual content</p>
          <p>some actual content</p>
          <p>some actual content</p>
          <p>some actual content</p>
          <p>some actual content</p>
          <p>some actual content</p>
          <p>some actual content</p>
          <p>some actual content</p>
          <p>some actual content</p>
          <p>some actual content</p>
          <p>some actual content</p>
          <p>some actual content</p>
          <p>some actual content</p>
          <p>some actual content</p>
        </div>
        <div>
          some additional footer content
        </div>
      </div>
    </main>
  </div>
  <footer class="footer">
    footer
  </footer>
</div>

Scrolling inside nested flexboxes

Generally speaking, for overflow: auto to render a vertical scrollbar, you need to define a height on the container.

In order for overflow to have an effect, the block-level container must have either a set height (height or max-height) or white-space set to nowrap.

^{source: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/overflow}

However, this isn't always a practical solution, especially in dynamic environments.

In your layout, the simple solution is to make the container (.content) a flex container. That's enough to make the layout work in Chrome (demo).

However, for the layout to also work in Firefox and Edge, you need to override the default minimum height of flex items, which is min-height: auto. This prevents flex items from shrinking below the size of their content, which eliminates the possibility for an overflow to occur. (full explanation)

Make these adjustments to your code:

.tabbed_content {
  display: flex;
  flex-direction: column;
  align-items: stretch;
  min-height: 0;                  /* NEW, esp for FF & Edge (see link below) */
}

.content {
  padding: 1rem;
  background-color: #EEEEEE;
  overflow: auto;                /* KEEP THIS, for FF & Edge (see link below) */
  display: flex;                 /* NEW */
  flex-direction: column;        /* NEW */
}

.scrollable {
  padding: 0.5rem;
  background-color: white;
  overflow: auto;               /* RESTORE */
  border: 1px dashed #CECECE;
}

revised codepen

More details: Why doesn't flex item shrink past content size?

Problem with flexbox layout and nested scrollbar

You need to allow .content to shrink then add min-width:0 or overflow:hidden so its size is calculated at screen inside its parent so overflow works on the children:

.content {
  flex: 1 1 auto;/* updated*/
  background: green;
  min-width:0;/* added */
}

.flexContainer {
  display: flex;
}

.sidebar {
  flex: 1 0 auto;
  min-width: 150px;
  max-width: 190px;
  color: white;
  background: blue;
}

.content {
  flex: 1 1 auto;
  background: green;
  min-width:0;
}

.scrollableElement {
  display: flex;
  overflow-x: scroll; 
}

.textElement {
  color: white;
  background: grey;
}

<html>
  <body>
    <div class="flexContainer">
      <div class="sidebar">
        <div>Sidebar</div>
      </div>
      <div class="content">
        <div class="scrollableElement">
          <div class="textElement">
            <div>Content11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111</div>
            <div>Content22222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222</div>
            <div>Content33333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333</div>
            <div>Content44444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444</div>
            <div>Content55555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555</div>
            <div>Content66666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666</div>
            <div>Content77777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777</div>
            <div>Content88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888</div>
          </div>
        </div>
      </div>
    </div>
  </body>
</html>

Make content scroll horizontally within nested flex containers with position sticky

The issue comes from using flexbox.
Switching to grid fixes the problem.

body {
  height: 1920px;
  margin: 0;
}
#primary-container {
  position: relative;
  display: flex;
  margin: 1rem;
}
#secondary-container {
  position: relative;
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: max-content 1fr;
  align-items: start;
}
#column-3 {
  display: grid;
  grid-auto-rows: min-content;
  height: 200px;
}
#content-wrapper {
  overflow: auto;
}
#extra-large-content {
  width: 3000px;
  background-color: lightgreen;
}
.sticky {
  position: sticky;
  top: 0;
  align-self: flex-start;
}
.border {
  border: 1px solid #ccc;
}

<div id="primary-container" class="border">
  <div class="sticky">
    column1
  </div>
  <div id="secondary-container" class="border">
    <div class="sticky">
      column2
    </div>
    <div id="column-3" class="sticky border">
      column3
      <div id="content-wrapper">
        <div id="extra-large-content">
          extra-large content
        </div>
      </div>
      ...
    </div>
  </div>
</div>

Nested flexbox's overflow: scroll not working

Adding h="100%" to the parent Flex container, removing h="100%" from the first child Flex container and adding minH="0" to it instead gives the desired result.

The problem here was that the parent height was unbounded meant that the children could take up as much space as they can and the parent would reflow to account for that since the children are set to flex-grow: 1.

import React from "react";
import _ from "lodash";
import {
  Flex,
  Box,
  Center,
  UnorderedList,
  ListItem,
  Heading
} from "@chakra-ui/react";

const Container = (props) => {
  const list = [];
  _.times(100, (i) => list.push(`Item ${i}`));

  return (
    <Flex id="container" flex={1} direction="column" h="100%">
      <Center id="header" h="75px" bg="yellow.300">
        <Heading>Flexbox Scroll Overflow Prototype</Heading>
      </Center>
      <Flex
        id="3-col-container"
        flex={1}
        bg="gray.100"
        p={4}
        minH="0"
        alignItems="stretch"
        gridColumnGap={2}
      >
        <Flex flex={1} bg="gray.50" direction="column" gridRowGap={2}>
          <Box minH="200px" bg="gray.500" />
          <Flex
            direction="column"
            pl={4}
            pt={2}
            flex={1}
            bg="teal.100"
            overflow="scroll"
          >
            <UnorderedList>
              {list.map((item) => (
                <ListItem mb={1} listStyleType="none" color="gray.700">
                  {item}
                </ListItem>
              ))}
            </UnorderedList>
          </Flex>
        </Flex>
        <Flex flex={1} bg="blue.100" />
        <Flex flex={1} bg="blue.200" />
      </Flex>
    </Flex>
  );
};

export default Container;

Flexbox layout with two equal height children, one containing nested flexbox with scrolling content

In general, for overflow: scroll (or auto and hidden) to work, a height constraint is needed in one way or the other, or else element's normally grow as much as needed to fit their content.

There is mainly 3 ways, where either an actual height is set, as in this first sample, where I added it to the container.

Stack snippet 1

.container {  display: flex;  height: 100vh;}
.child {  border: 1px solid grey;  background-color: lightgrey;  flex: 1 1 auto;}
.controls-panel {  display: flex;  flex-direction: column;}
.controls {  flex: 0 0 auto;}
.content-wrapper {  flex: 1 1 auto;  width: 400px;  overflow-y: auto;}.content-item {  display: inline-block;  width: 100px;  height: 100px;  background-color: red;}

<div class="container">  <div class="child">    <p>In real life I am an inline img.</p>    <p>I am some content whoop de doo.</p>    <p>I am some content whoop de doo.</p>    <p>I am some content whoop de doo.</p>    <p>I want my sibling to equal my height.</p>  </div>  <div class="child controls-panel">    <div class="controls">      <p>Small controls area. Panel below should scroll vertically.</p>    </div>    <div class="content-wrapper">      <div class="content-item"></div>      <div class="content-item"></div>      <div class="content-item"></div>      <div class="content-item"></div>      <div class="content-item"></div>      <div class="content-item"></div>      <div class="content-item"></div>      <div class="content-item"></div>      <div class="content-item"></div>      <div class="content-item"></div>      <div class="content-item"></div>      <div class="content-item"></div>      <div class="content-item"></div>      <div class="content-item"></div>      <div class="content-item"></div>      <div class="content-item"></div>    </div>  </div></div>

Nested flexbox UI with scrolling content rendered differently in Safari and in MS Edge

Ok this was a hard one! Add this to your CSS and it should work. (tested in Safari)

body .multiple-variable-selection-columns-container {
    height: calc(100% - 66px);
}

body .modal-menu .tab-content {
    height: calc(100% - 57px);
}

body .modal-wide .modal-dialog .modal-content .modal-body {
    height: calc(100% - 110px);
}

ng-include {
    display: block;
}

You have added height: 100%; to elements who have neighbour elements with there own height. You have definitely to cleanup your markup, but the CSS above should work for the moment.

I have added the body to get a stronger selector to overwrite your code. I also added a default display style for ng-include tag, the browser doesn't know what kind of styles to use, so the tag has no hight and is hard to debug.

I hope I could help you.

Nested Flexbox with Scrolling Area