I'm looking for a simple (CSS-) solution for the following problem:

I filled an outer DIV with 8 lines of nested DIVs. The outer DIV is displayed as inline-block with overflow-y auto and hidden overflow-x. The width of the outer DIV should not be specified firmly. Firefox on Windows covers scrollable content of the widest line(s) with a scrollbar. I have tried many (see below) different browsers, but Firefox was the only candidate with this behavior.

.outer {
  display: inline-block;
  border: 1px solid #000;
  height: 6lh;
  overflow-x: hidden;
  overflow-y: auto;
}

.inner {
  padding: 2px 5px;
  text-wrap: nowrap;
}

<div id="outer" class="outer">
    <div id="inner" class='inner'>short</div>
    <div class='inner'>longer</div>
    <div class='inner'>another</div>
    <div class='inner'>medium</div>
    <div class='inner'>overflow</div>
    <div class='inner'>inline</div>
    <div class='inner'>scrollbar</div>
    <div class='inner'>incomprehensibility</div>
</div>

I'm looking for a simple (CSS-) solution for the following problem:

I filled an outer DIV with 8 lines of nested DIVs. The outer DIV is displayed as inline-block with overflow-y auto and hidden overflow-x. The width of the outer DIV should not be specified firmly. Firefox on Windows covers scrollable content of the widest line(s) with a scrollbar. I have tried many (see below) different browsers, but Firefox was the only candidate with this behavior.

.outer {
  display: inline-block;
  border: 1px solid #000;
  height: 6lh;
  overflow-x: hidden;
  overflow-y: auto;
}

.inner {
  padding: 2px 5px;
  text-wrap: nowrap;
}

<div id="outer" class="outer">
    <div id="inner" class='inner'>short</div>
    <div class='inner'>longer</div>
    <div class='inner'>another</div>
    <div class='inner'>medium</div>
    <div class='inner'>overflow</div>
    <div class='inner'>inline</div>
    <div class='inner'>scrollbar</div>
    <div class='inner'>incomprehensibility</div>
</div>

Screenshot of Firefox hiding content behind scrollbar

Firefox: reported dimensions of DIVs

Other browsers: reported dimensions of DIVs (outer offsetWidth slightly differs, depending on browser's scrollbar width)

A look on a shorter content that doesn't force scrolling results in the same values as shown in the upper second table. There's no difference between Firefox an the others.

.outer {
  display: inline-block;
  border: 1px solid #000;
  height: 6lh;
  overflow-x: hidden;
  overflow-y: auto;
}

.inner {
  padding: 2px 5px;
  text-wrap: nowrap;
}

<div id="outer" class="outer">
    <div id="inner" class='inner'>short</div>
    <div class='inner'>incomprehensibility</div>
</div>

Neither playing around with CSS attributes (grid, flex, transform...) nor searching for conclusions was successful. My only solution yet is to manipulate the dimensions via Javascript. The clientWidth of the outer DIV is always the same in any browser except Firefox, independent of the chosen overflow method or the content's height.

My solution with Javascript:

function correctFF() {
    let o = document.getElementById('outer');
    let i = document.getElementById('inner');

    // get dimensions of overflow-y: scroll
    o.style.overflowY = 'scroll';
    let ocs = o.clientWidth;
    let oos = o.offsetWidth;

    // get dimensions of overflow-y: auto
    o.style.overflowY = 'auto';
    let oca = o.clientWidth;

    // Firefox (clientWidth of overflow auto < scroll)?
    // => enlarge outer DIV to offsetWidth of overflow scroll
    if(oca < ocs) o.style.width = oos + 'px';
}

Do you have any ideas?

Tested browsers (desktop)

• Chrome 133.0.6943.142
• Edge 133.0.3065.92
• Firefox 135.0.1
• Opera 117.0.5408.53
• Safari 18.2

Tested browsers (mobile)

• Chrome 132.0.6834.80
• Dolphin 12.4.1
• Firefox 135.0.1
• Samsung Internet 27.0.0.79

• javascript
• css
• firefox

• 1 This is one of Firefox's ergonomic choices: scrollbars only appear when they are usefull for scrolling movements, and then disappear. Personally, I agree with this and I expect other browsers to do the same. – Mister Jojo Commented Mar 3 at 18:16
• On desktop versions it's quite useful to offer a visible scrollbar. Otherwise you would not even realize that content is scrolling. On mobile browsers you are used to wipe. And as long as scrollbars are permanently visible they should not hide content by default. – mentro Commented Mar 3 at 19:22
• It's weird how do you not realize that a content is scrolling when you scroll? – Mister Jojo Commented Mar 3 at 21:32

1 Answer 1

Try setting scrollbar gutter on .outer to reserve space for the scrollbar:

scrollbar-gutter: stable;

.outer {
  display: inline-block;
  border: 1px solid #000;
  height: 6lh;
  overflow-x: hidden;
  overflow-y: auto;
  scrollbar-gutter: stable;
}

.inner {
  padding: 2px 5px;
  text-wrap: nowrap;
}

<div id="outer" class="outer">
    <div id="inner" class='inner'>short</div>
    <div class='inner'>longer</div>
    <div class='inner'>another</div>
    <div class='inner'>medium</div>
    <div class='inner'>overflow</div>
    <div class='inner'>inline</div>
    <div class='inner'>scrollbar</div>
    <div class='inner'>incomprehensibility</div>
</div>