html - Flexbox with fixed header and footer and scrollable content

Question

I am trying to make a flexbox design work. I am not an HTML/css expert. :(

I have a flexbox design with fixed header and footer and content that occupies the rest of the available real estate of the page.

When I put data in the content area which is longer than that available space the content is scrolling. But I want to achieve a different thing.

I would like to have several divs (below each other) in the content area and each div should be as high as the content area (even if the content is small) so I have a kind of paging inside the content area.

A couple of days I have tried a lot and read a lot but can't get it working. How can I make a div inside the scrollable content area occupy the whole space (height) ?

Answer 1

You can do something like this:

html, body {
  margin: 0;
  height: 100%; /* can also use viewport units (height: 100vh) */
}

#container {
  display: flex; /* displays flex-items (children) inline */
  flex-direction: column; /* stacks them vertically */
  height: 100%; /* needs to take the parents height, alternative: body {display: flex} */
}

main {
  flex: 1; /* takes the remaining height of the "container" div */
  overflow: auto; /* to scroll just the "main" div */
}

section {
  height: 100%; /* takes the visible area of the "main" div */
  overflow: auto; /* recommended */
  border-bottom: 1px solid;
  background: lightgreen;
}

header {background: #f88}
section:last-child {border: none}
footer {background: lightblue}

<div id="container">
  <header>top</header>
  <main>
    <section>1st</section>
    <section>2nd</section>
    <section>3rd<br>
      Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.<br>
      Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.<br>
      Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.<br>
    </section>
    <section>4th</section>
    <section>5th</section>
  </main>
  <footer>bottom</footer>
</div>