Solve layout and overflow issues with Chrome Developer Tools

In this tutorial, I will show you how you can adjust and solve common layout and overflow issues on websites using the Chrome Developer Tools. Through a simple example consisting of HTML and CSS, you will learn how to properly set the height of elements and eliminate unnecessary scrollbars. The tools in the Developer Tools allow you to work directly in the browser and make immediate changes. Let's get started!

Main Insights

• Flexbox helps you efficiently create layouts.
• The height of elements must be correctly set to avoid overflow problems.
• Margin and padding can lead to unwanted scrollbars, which can be fixed with simple adjustments.

Step-by-Step Guide

Check Layout and Make Adjustments

Start by opening the website in Chrome and launching the Developer Tools. You can do this by right-clicking on the page and selecting "Inspect" or simply pressing F12. Then go to the "Elements" tab to see the structure of the HTML code.

First, examine the main div that contains the Flexbox layout. This is the area where you can adjust your Flexbox configuration. Check if display: flex; is correctly applied and if the rest div, which uses Flex 1, has enough space in the layout.

Here you can see that the rest div is only 18.5 pixels high, which is too low for the desired space. This height should be adjusted accordingly to utilize the entire available space.

Adjust Height of Parent Elements

To ensure that your rest div takes up the entire height of the page, you need to set the height of the parent elements, including body and html, to 100%. Go back to the styles and set the height of the body to 100%.

You will see that nothing has changed yet. Another thing you need to check is if the html tag is also set to 100% height. This is an important requirement for everything to work.

Once you have set the height of the html tag to 100%, the layout should now be displayed correctly. The rest div will now fill the entire space of the page.

Refine Flexbox Settings

Another step is to refine the Flexbox settings. You can adjust the alignment of child elements within the Flex container by experimenting with options like align-items or justify-content. These settings help you control the positions of content within your container.

While experimenting with this, make sure to observe the visual representation. Repeat the adjustments until you are satisfied with the arrangement of the content.

Identify and Solve Overflow Issues

Now you will encounter another issue, namely overflow, which causes unwanted scrollbars. To find out which elements are responsible for the scrollbar, right-click on the scrollbar and choose "Inspect."

In the Inspect area, you will see that the body element has a margin of 8 pixels. This margin may be responsible for causing your page to be wider than 100%, resulting in an overflow.

To fix this issue, set the body's margin to 0 and keep in mind that you typically perform a CSS reset to establish consistency. This means setting all margins to zero before adding your own margins back.

Adjusting Padding and Box-Sizing

After fixing the margin issue, you also need to check the padding. In the html tag, you may also have padding that contributes to the overflow. Here you can set the padding to 0 or alternatively adjust the box-sizing to border-box. This way, the padding will be considered within the defined width and the scrollbar will disappear.

Once you have implemented all of this, you should now have a layout structure without scrollbars that adapts optimally to the available screen space.

Summary

In this guide, you have learned how to identify and fix layout issues and overflow errors on your website using Chrome Developer Tools. You have understood the importance of Flexbox and the correct height and margin settings to create an aesthetically pleasing layout.