Methods for Containing Floats / not clear all

Log from IRC server Freenode (IPv6) channel #CSS.

<me> is there a way that I can limit the scope of clear ? I suppose taking it out of the flow will do the trick but I need it to be in the flow ... for example, if I have a sidebar and in the main content something is floating and I want the following to clear it but if I do so it will clear down after the sidebar wich leave an unacceptable 1/2 page space. Any suggestion on the matter ? The...
...specific page is anonymized
<jedimindtrick> me: yeah, dont use clear elements
use self-clearing containers
<me> jedimindtrick: they add clearing items no ?
<jedimindtrick> me: nope
<me> jedimindtrick: the one I have is called clearfix and it add a clear: both item ; is there a better way to do so ?
[ERROR] Connection to irc://chat.freenode.net/ (irc://chat.freenode.net/) reset. [Help]
<me> jedimindtrick: sorry net crashed, did I miss something from you ? the last I got was "me: nope"
<jedimindtrick> me: i was talking to you?
lol
<jedimindtrick> me: nope
#container { overflow: hidden; } will make the container clear any floated children for all gecko based browsers
err for any browsers but IE
for IE you just have to trigger hasLayout
<jedimindtrick> which can be done by various different ways
<jedimindtrick> including setting a width on the container, doing zoom: 1; and uhmm other ways
http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/9240/kissingpigex2.jpg
i find that mildly disturbing
<me> jedimindtrick: I don't understand all the concept you've just mentionned but the class I use does all the things you've just mentionned, on the bade the code is <div id="content" class="clearfix" style="background-color: red;">
<jedimindtrick> clearfix is not the same as what i told you
<me> oh I don't get it all ... got a page for me to learn ?
or a keyword ?
jedimindtrick: ^
<jedimindtrick> ]search clear
]clear
<_ZofBot4> Contain floats: http://www.ejeliot.com/blog/59 , www.positioniseverything.net/easyclearing.html
<jedimindtrick> there read the first one
look at 'overflow method'
is the one i was explaining
anyway im gonna go take a nap suckers
* jedimindtrick watches the internet crawl to a stop in his absence
<me> jedimindtrick: thank you kindly, good nap ! :)