Why is the length of a floated div ignored by the outer wrapper?

Question

I'm having a hard time understanding whether floated elements are relatively or absolutely positioned.
When I do a "float:right" on a narrow column, the text outside that column seems very aware of its existence. It won't appear under it - it will instead wrap around it. It will make room for it.
However, the outer wrapping div ignores the floated div completely. It will only take into account (and accomodate for) whatever amount of text is NOT in that inner floating div.
Example :
<div class="wrapper">
  <div style="float:right">
    Float right contents.
  </div>
  This is the content that isn't floating right.
</div>
If the right-floated contents are longer than the content that isn't floated right, the outer wrapper ignores it. It will only accomodate the text that isn't being floated. If the floated text exceeds the non-floating text, the floating text will bleed outside the outer wrapper.
How do I make the outer wrapper accomodate the right-floated div as well?

Answer 1

I'm having a hard time understanding whether floated elements are relatively or absolutely positioned
Neither.  Floats are floats.  The take content out of the normal flow.  For this reason, you must clear floats after they are no longer needed.   I typically use a br, p or hr tag with a clearing class like so:
CSS:
.clearFloat {clear:both; height 1px; visibility: hidden}
HTML:
<hr class="clearFloat" />
Floats and Margins Demo.
http://alt-web.com/DEMOS/3-CSS-boxes.shtml
Nancy O.
Alt-Web Design & Publishing
Web | Graphics | Print | Media  Specialists
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