MikePadgett.com

IE7 only: float bug on elements with italic, background properties

Setting font-style:italic in your CSS for elements in the vicinity of a floated element can actually trigger a float bug in Internet Explorer 7.

This is only a problem, so far as I can see, when you’re using backgrounds on the unfloated element(s), because thr background image or colour will overrun your floated element.

Want to try it? The situation is as follows:

1. Float an element containing either an image or text
2. Continue with unfloated elements so that under normal circumstances they wrap around the floated element
3. Give the wrapped text a background property, such as a background colour or image

The code so far:

/* CSS */
.floated {float: right;}
p {background: #fc0;}
...
<!-- HTML -->
<div class="floated"><img src="/images/tmp.jpg" /></div>
<p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit</p>
<p>Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra per inceptos himenaeos</p>

Up to this point everything’s normal:

So far so good. Now add font-style:italic; to the rule for p.

Here’s Firefox, with no surprises:

But here’s Internet Explorer 7:

The only (il)logical answer seems to be the addition of overflow: auto to the rule with the background.

I was clued in by a slightly different issue with the same fix already discovered long ago. Just to remind you once more, this is IE7 only, folks!