A typical problem is the following: when a user has the viewport at a size that makes the outer container 999 pixels wide, if the first column is 60% and the second is 40%, IE 6 will always calculate the two columns as 600 and 400 pixels and as a result, the two will not fit (600+400 = 1 more than 999) and it will drop the second column. This is obviously not intended behavior, and in a world where we still have to use floats for columns (I can't wait for display:table support across all browsers), it's important to work around this problem. I used to give my last column 1 less percent (in this example, it would have 39% instead of 40%, but this would usually result in columns that don't quite fill up the container. Of late I have been giving the last column .4 less percent (in this example, 39.6%), which seems to work perfectly. Browsers will calculate this width and round up, but it will still fit even with an odd container width like 999px and I won't have to worry about dropped columns.
Anna Taylor on 31 Jul 13As the CEO of AXZM, Steve Floyd has worked hard to build the company he always wanted to work for. Founding AXZM in the spring of 2003, Steve has since grown his agency into one of the most recognized and trusted digital marketing boutiques in North Texas. Starting his career in the early 2000′s designing for print & web - later evolving into LAMP application development and over the last 5 years, Content Strategy, SEO & Inbound. Steve is also the founder / organizer of the Dallas Content Strategy Group and Co-Chair / Founder of SEMPO NTX.
