How can I create a line after my text to the width of the container?

s.bramblet picture s.bramblet · Feb 20, 2013 · Viewed 13.1k times · Source

Yes, I'm a newb so please go easy. I know there's got to be several ways to accomplish this. Basically I've been trying to come up with a consistent way to have a header with a line after the text that will run to the full width of a container element.

Something like this:

This is my header _______________________________________________________ |<- end container
This is another header __________________________________________________ |<- end container

I'm trying to create a .line class that will use bottom-border to create the line but I've been unsuccessful at creating a variable length line that will extend the full width of the container.

Here's what I've tried:

CSS:

.line
{
    display:inline-block;
    border-bottom:2px #5B3400 solid;
    margin-left:5px;
    width:80%;
}

HTML:

    <h2>Our Mission<span class="line"></span></h2>

Of course this only gives me a line 80% of the container from the left border including the width of the text. How can I create a line that begins after the text and runs the full width of the border regardless of how much text is on the same line?

I know this should be easy but I haven't been able to find a solution yet.

Thanks!

Answer

Axel picture Axel · Feb 20, 2013

THIS METHOD WILL WORK WITH TEXTURED BACKGROUNDS (background images):

You can try using this method instead, if your <h2> is on top of a background image.

HTML:

<h2 class="line-title"><span>This is my title</span><hr /></h2>

CSS:

.line-title {
    font-size: 20px;
    margin-bottom: 10px;
    padding-top: 1px; /* Allows for hr margin to start at top of h2 */
}

/* clearfix for floats */
.line-title:after {
    content: "";
    display: table;
    clear: both;
}

.line-title span {
    padding-right: 10px;
    float: left;
}

.line-title hr {
    border:1px solid #DDD;
    border-width: 1px 0 0 0;
    margin-top: 11px;
}

See the working example here: http://jsfiddle.net/yYBDD/1/

How it Works:

  1. the <h2> tag acts as a container for a floated element.

  2. the <span> is floated left, causing the <hr /> to collapse to the left and fill the right space.

  3. the <hr /> acts as the line, and fills up the remaining space to the right.