Footer with 3 columns, right and left fixed, center fluid maximized

Question

I would obtain a 3 column footer with fixed width left and right column and the central fill the remaining space:

.
.
.
|[LEFT]<------central------>[RIGHT]|

Now I'm using this code, but the central column has fixed width :(

.left  
{  
  float:left;  
  width: 100px;  
}  
.central  
{  
  float:left;  
  width: {xxx}px  
}  
.right  
{  
  float:right;  
  width: 100px;  
}  

Answer 1

If you modify your source order, you can continue using floats but only for the left and right elements:

http://tinker.io/99f07/2

.left  
{  
  float:left;  
  width: 100px;  
}  
.central  
{  
    margin-left: 100px;
    margin-right: 100px;
}  
.right  
{  
  float:right;  
  width: 100px;  
}  

<div class="left">
    Left
</div>

<div class="right">
    Right
</div>

<div class="central">
    Lorem ipsum dolor...
</div>

Otherwise, changing the display type of all 3 sibling elements to table-cell will do the job (as an added benefit, the elements are now equal height):

http://tinker.io/99f07/1

/* optional
body {
    display: table;
    width: 100%;
}*/

.left  
{  
  display: table-cell;  
  width: 100px;  
}  
.central  
{  
  display: table-cell;  
}  
.right  
{  
  display: table-cell;  
  width: 100px;  
}