Woohoo, I think I've (almost) done it, and without using javascripts (which I don't understand - another skill need here, I feel) but using some of the very useful suggestions on this thread, so thank you all.
What I've ended up with is the footer table that goes all the way across the browser window, so the side-nav as well as the topic body, but I didn't mind either way so it's not a problem. I'll explain what the "almost" is later. This is what I've done:
In the master page, between a div that contains my table footer (div#footer) and the div that contains the topic body, insert the div suggested by alex, <div id="footer-padder"></div>. (Because the table might grow in height when it gets narrow, the
tablet medium has height at 90px.) The div that the footer table is in is set at 98% to allow the bottom of the scrollbar beside the fixed footer to be seen. 98% worked well.
Here's the code from my stylesheet:
Code: Select all
#footer-padder
{
height: 60px;
}
#footer
{
position: fixed;
bottom: 0;
left: 0;
width: 98%;
background-color: #e5e5e5;
margin: 0;
padding: 5px;
}
Here's the code from my masterpage:
Code: Select all
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<html xmlns:MadCap="http://www.madcapsoftware.com/Schemas/MadCap.xsd">
<head>
</head>
<body>
<MadCap:topicToolbarProxy data-mc-skin="/Project/Skins/HTML5_Topic_Toolbar.flskn" />
<MadCap:breadcrumbsProxy />
<div>
<MadCap:bodyProxy />
</div>
<div id="footer-padder"><![CDATA[
]]></div>
<div id="footer">
<table class="footer">
<col />
<col />
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
...snip...</td>
<td>...snip...</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
</body>
</html>
The remaining problem is that I don't know how to include a similar "footer-padder" bit at the bottom of the side-nav bit, so I would welcome any suggestions for that, because if I have a very long side-nav menu (which I know I will have in some of my bigger projects) it won't be possible to see the very last item if the footer table is in the way. Alternatively, if anyone can work out how to get the table only under the topic body rather than under both topic body AND side-nav that'd do nicely. (Meanwhile I will keep looking at the side-nav skin and see if there's a neat way to add a footer-padder div there too.)