How Do CSS `width` and `max-width` Interact with Text Wrapping?

CSS Width and Max-Width on Line Wrap: Understanding Behavior

When defining the width of elements using CSS, the width and max-width properties play a significant role. While width sets the exact width of an element, max-width specifies the maximum allowable width. The behavior of these properties, however, can be unexpected in cases where text wraps within the element.

Consider the following CSS code:

#tooltip {
    position: absolute;
    width: auto;
    min-width: 50px;
    max-width: 250px;
    padding: 10px;
    background-color: #eee;
    border: 1px solid #aaa;
}

As per the provided code, the expectation is that the tooltip's width will dynamically adjust based on its content, with a minimum width of 50px and a maximum width of 250px. However, it has been observed that when the text in the tooltip wraps to a new line, the max-width property overrides the width property, resulting in an unappealing appearance where the tooltip leaves excessive padding.

This behavior is indeed normal. Browsers will attempt to flow the text inline within the box until it reaches the maximum width of 250px. Once this limit is reached, the remaining text is wrapped to the next line. However, the box's width will not shrink again after text wrapping, as this is not part of the intended behavior of text wrapping.

Consequently, the box's width is calculated as 250px because the CSS specification dictates that it cannot exceed that value. It is not calculated to be equal to the width of the text after wrapping and then overridden by max-width.

Unfortunately, there is no known workaround to change this behavior.

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