Question

I want to make a two column layout using DIVs, where right column will have a fixed width of 200px and the left one would take all the space that is left.

It’s quite easy, if you use tables:

<table width="100%">
  <tr>
    <td>Column 1</td>
    <td width="200">Column 2 (always 200px)</td>
  </tr>
</table>

But how about DIVs? Is it possible to accomplish this? If yes, then how?

Answer 1

The following examples are source ordered i.e. column 1 appears before column 2 in the HTML source. Whether a column appears on left or right is controlled by CSS:

Fixed Right

#wrapper {
  margin-right: 200px;
}
#content {
  float: left;
  width: 100%;
  background-color: #CCF;
}
#sidebar {
  float: right;
  width: 200px;
  margin-right: -200px;
  background-color: #FFA;
}
#cleared {
  clear: both;
}

<div id="wrapper">
  <div id="content">Column 1 (fluid)</div>
  <div id="sidebar">Column 2 (fixed)</div>
  <div id="cleared"></div>
</div>

Fixed Left

#wrapper {
  margin-left: 200px;
}
#content {
  float: right;
  width: 100%;
  background-color: #CCF;
}
#sidebar {
  float: left;
  width: 200px;
  margin-left: -200px;
  background-color: #FFA;
}
#cleared {
  clear: both;
}

<div id="wrapper">
  <div id="content">Column 1 (fluid)</div>
  <div id="sidebar">Column 2 (fixed)</div>
  <div id="cleared"></div>
</div>

Alternate solution is to use display: table-cell; which results in equal height columns.