How can I wrap text around a bottom-right div?

rally25rs_28278 0
Viewed 44243

Every time I try to do something seemingly-simple in CSS, it doesn't work.

I have a content div that contains a 460x160 image. All I want to do is position the image at the bottom-right corner and wrap my text around it.

<div id="contents">
    <img src="..." />
    text text text text text text ...
</div>

So I want it to look like:

------------------
| text text text |
| text text text |
| text text -----|
| text text |    |
------------------

Doing it with a top-left or top-right image is cake:

#contents img { float:right; }

------------------
| text text |    |
| text text -----|
| text text text |
| text text text |
------------------

Now how do I push that to the bottom? The best I've come up with so far are:

#contents img { float:right; margin-top: 90%} // really needs to be 100%-160px

------------------
| text text      |
| text text      |
| text text -----|
| text text |    |
------------------

In this case the text does not print in the margin, so there is white space above the image.

#contents { position:relative; }
#contents img { position:absolute; right:0; bottom:0; }

-or-

// move the img tag under the text in the html and:
#contents img { float:right; margin-top:-160; }

------------------
| text text text |
| text text text |
| text text -----|
| text text | te |
------------------

In this case the text prints over or under the image.

So... how can I accomplish this?

css-float css html
8 Answers

It sure seems to have been asked before (2003), and before (2002), or before (2005)

The last link actually suggest a javascript-based solution, but for a fixed (i.e. non fluid) solution.

It is consistent however, with other advices found

The only way to do that is to put the floated element somewhere in the middle of the text. It's impossible to get it perfect all of the time.

Or this one:

It consists of floating a vertical "pusher" element (such as img, but it's probably smarter to just use an empty div), then floating the desired object under it, using the clear property. The major problem with this method is you still have to know how many lines there are of text. It makes things MUCH easier though, and could definitely be coded with javascript, just need to change the height of the "pusher" to the height of the container minus the height of the float (assuming your container isn't fixed/min height).

Anyway, as discussed in this thread, there is no easy solution...

Cletus mentions in the comments this thread from 2003, which states once again the fact it can not easily be achieved.
However, it does refer to this Eric Meyer's article, which comes close to the effect you want to achieve.

By understanding how floats and the normal flow relate to each other, and understanding how clearing can be used to manipulate the normal flow around floats, authors can employ floats as a very powerful layout tool.
Because floats were not originally intended to be used for layout, some hacks may be necessary to make them behave as intended. This can involve floating elements that contain floats, "clearing" elements, or a combination of both.

Yet, Chadwick Meyer suggests in his answer a solution based on the :before CSS selector (variation of Leonard's answer).
It does work here.

Update Apr. 2021: Temani Afif suggests in his answer using Flexbox combined with a shape-outside.
But do check out the Backwards Compatibility of Flexbox, even though its support by all browsers is quite good.

VonC_63090

Using flexbox combined with a shape-outside trick it's now possible with few lines of code.

.wrapper {
  display: flex; /* this is needed for the height:100% */
}

.box {
  text-align: justify;
  font-size: 20px;
}

.float {
  float: right; /* shape-outside only apply to float elements */
  height: 100%; /* take all the height */
  margin-left: 15px;
  /* push the image to the bottom */
  display: flex;
  align-items: flex-end;
  /**/
  shape-outside: inset(calc(100% - 100px) 0 0); /* make the text flow on the top free space*/
}
<div class="wrapper">
  <div class="box">
    <div class="float"><img src="https://picsum.photos/id/1069/100/100"></div>
    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Aliquam in dui quis orci ultricies aliquet nec sed enim. Mauris id rutrum nulla, et ornare leo. Donec aliquet malesuada tellus, eu laoreet lectus tincidunt ut. Quisque lacus magna, interdum eu urna
    ac, aliquet gravida orci. Pellentesque gravida urna sit amet nulla suscipit, at venenatis lorem dignissim. Morbi quis nunc eu velit condimentum ornare. Curabitur finibus tincidunt ullamcorper. Pellentesque tincidunt et odio vitae tempus. Praesent
    ac erat ut eros venenatis pulvinar. Pellentesque eu dapibus dui. Ut semper sed enim ut vestibulum. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Fusce vitae elit eget velit porttitor consequat nec sed turpis. Proin libero nisl, egestas
    hendrerit vulputate et, lobortis non nulla. Aenean dui libero, dictum vel nibh eget, tristique egestas enim.
  </div>
</div>

Here is an article I wrote around this subject with more examples: https://css-tricks.com/float-an-element-to-the-bottom-corner/

Another version with less of code and without a wrapper for the image:

.wrapper {
  display: flex; /* this is needed for the height:100% */
}

.box {
  text-align: justify;
  font-size: 20px;
}

img {
  float: right; /* shape-outside only apply to float elements */
  height: 100%; /* take all the height */
  width: 100px;
  margin-left: 15px;
  /* push the image to the bottom */
  object-fit: contain;
  object-position: bottom;
  /**/
  shape-outside: inset(calc(100% - 100px) 0 0); /* make the text flow on the top free space*/
}
<div class="wrapper">
  <div class="box">
    <img src="https://picsum.photos/id/1069/100/100">
    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Aliquam in dui quis orci ultricies aliquet nec sed enim. Mauris id rutrum nulla, et ornare leo. Donec aliquet malesuada tellus, eu laoreet lectus tincidunt ut. Quisque lacus magna, interdum eu urna
    ac, aliquet gravida orci. Pellentesque gravida urna sit amet nulla suscipit, at venenatis lorem dignissim. Morbi quis nunc eu velit condimentum ornare. Curabitur finibus tincidunt ullamcorper. Pellentesque tincidunt et odio vitae tempus. Praesent
    ac erat ut eros venenatis pulvinar. Pellentesque eu dapibus dui. Ut semper sed enim ut vestibulum. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Fusce vitae elit eget velit porttitor consequat nec sed turpis. Proin libero nisl, egestas
    hendrerit vulputate et, lobortis non nulla. Aenean dui libero, dictum vel nibh eget, tristique egestas enim.
  </div>
</div>

user_86203330

The solution I found involves that you have a div whose width does not changes, nor does the amount of text. Then you can position the image inside the text and have it align=right. So if you have correct amount of text around it, then you you get the image on the right and at the bottom of the div.

    <style >
#contents{
    border: 2px solid red;
    background: #ddd;
    position: absolute;
    width:600px;
}



</style>
<div id="contents">
    text text text text text text ...    text text text text text text ...    text text text text text text ...    text text text text text text ...    text text text text text text ...    
    text text text text text text ...    text text text text text text ...   
    text text text text text text ...    text text text text text text ...    text text text text text text ...    text text text text text text ...    text text text text text text ...
    text text text text text text ...    text text text text text text ...    text text text text text text ...    text text text text text text ...    text text text text text text ...    
    text text text text text text ...    text text text text text text ...   
    text text text text text text ...    text text text text text text ...    text text text text text text ...    text text text text text text ...    text text text text text text ...
    text text text text text text ...    text text text text text text ...    text text text text text text ...    text text text text text text ...    text text text text text text ...    
    text text text text text text ...    text text text text text text ...   
    text text text text text text ...    text text text text text text ...    text text text text text text ...    text text text text text text ...    text text text text text text ...
    text text text text text text ...    text text text text text text ...  <img src="http://daiphyer.com/images/daiphyerv6-sliced_02.png" ALIGN="RIGHT"/>
    text text text text text text ...    text text text text text text ...    text text text text text text ...    
    text text text text text text ...    text text text text text text ...   
    text text text text text text ...    text text text text text text ...   
    text text text text text text ...    text text text text text text ...    text text text text text text ...
     hey hey text text text text text text ...    text text text text text text ...    text text text text text text ...    
    text text text text text text ...    text text text text text text ...
</div>
user_586700
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