Unnecessary Horizontal Scrollbar in IE Popups or Frames XHTML Bug

Unnecessary Horizontal Scrollbar in IE Popups or Frames XHTML Bug

Internet Explorer 6.0 for Windows, and Internet Explorer 5.0 for Mac has a bug that provides a horizontal scrollbar to pages residing in frames or popup windows, even when no horizontal scrollbar is needed. The cause is a flawed interpretation of the XHTML 1.0 transitional doctype.
Here are some solutions to the problem.
To fix the problem, you may select the solution that fits you best.

Solution 1:

Paste the following code in your stylesheet:
html {
 overflow-y: scroll;
}
This forces the vertical scroller to be enabled by default, thus, for some reason, eliminating IE’s need for a horisontal one.
Pros:
  • Fixes the problem completely, allowing you to keep your XHTML doctype intact
Cons:
  • Forces the vertical scroller, even when it’s not needed. Be careful not to attach the stylesheet to, for instance, a frameset index.

Solution 2:

Paste the following code in your stylesheet:
html {
 overflow-x: hidden;
 overflow-y: auto;
}
This hides the horisontal scrollbar, and sets the vertical scrollbar to only be enabled when necessary.
Pros:
  • Visually fixes the problem
  • Doesn’t force a vertical scroller when it is not needed
Cons:
  • Simply hides the horisontal scroller, doesn’t actually fix the problem. Thus, you may have content that will actually be located outside the page, where normally a horisontal scroller would be needed. It will be forcefully hidden.

Solution 3:

Paste the following code in your stylesheet:
body {
 margin-right: -15px;
 margin-bottom: -15px;
}
This adds a negative vertical and horisontal margin, the exact amount that IE adds, thus eliminating the artificial need for a scrollbar.
Pros:
  • Visually fixes the problem
  • Doesn’t force a vertical scrollbar
Cons:
  • Doesn’t allow you to utilize the fill horisontal screen real estate, due to the “artificially created” 15px margin
I personally use, and would recommend, solution 1.

Forcing scrollbars

The techniques used to “fix” the bug in question, can also be used for other purposes. With CSS, you can forcefully show or hide both vertical and horisontal scrollbars in both Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer.
Forcefully enabling scrollbars:
html {
 overflow: scroll;
}
Forcefully disabling scrollbars:
html {
 overflow: hidden;
}
Hiding the horizontal scrollbar in IE:
html {
 overflow-x: hidden;
}
Hiding the vertical scrollbar in IE:
html {
 overflow-y: hidden;
}
Forcing the horizontal scrollbar in IE:
html {
 overflow-x: scroll;
}
Forcing the vertical scrollbar in IE:
html {
 overflow-y: scroll;<
}
Forcing the horizontal scrollbar in Mozilla:
html {
 overflow:-moz-scrollbars-horizontal;
}
Note: This forces the horisontal scrollbar ONLY. This means even if a vertical scrollbar is necessary, it won’t appear.
Forcing the vertical scrollbar in Mozilla:
html {
 overflow:-moz-scrollbars-vertical;
}
Note: This forces the vertical scrollbar ONLY. This means even if a horisontal scrollbar is necessary, it won’t appear.
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