Question

simple question

if I make a div with border all way round with some text in, the div box will only be as wide as the content.

how do I make it that the div always stretches 100% of the screen across, even if nothing inside it.

I understand min-width doesnt work with IE, is there a safe, stable way to do this?

Answer 1

No, a <div> will always take up the 100% of width unless a style(css) alters it.
Keep in mind that a <div> is a block element.

If you set the display value of <div> to be inline, for example, it would only take up the width of its content.

Example:

.myDiv
{
   display: inline;
}

<div class="myDiv">I will take up width of my content only</div>

On the otherhand,

A <span> will only take up as much width as the context because its an inline element.

Here is an example.
jsFiddle