Converting absolute positioning to relative

Question

I was stupid and built a web widget in jsFiddle using absolute positioning because it was just a quick prototype to show someone how the functionality would work.

Well we decided that we're gonna use it now and I'm having a hell of a time converting the elements to utilize relative positioning. Also, I'm in the middle of trying to convert this to a jQuery UI widget, so I want everything set up so that it just dumps onto the page without issue.

The widget can be seen HERE. Basically it's a search box of sorts that will allow some filtering with the left-most button.

The components are as such:

• #refine: The left-most button.
• #refineDropdown: The drop down menu that appears when you click on the refine button
• #search: The input box
• #dropdown: The live-type search filtering box
• #submit: The right-most search button

Question: When creating a widget, should positioning be done relatively or absolutely? If I have multiple instances of this on a page, the position of the dropdowns should be independent of their position on the page, but I don't fully understand positioning and HTML arrangement to get this to work.

CSS:

.inline { float:left; }
.clearBoth { clear:both; }
#refine {    
    position: relative;
    margin-right: -3px;    
    overflow:hidden;
    white-space:nowrap;
    background: rgb(238,238,238); /* Old browsers */
    background: -moz-linear-gradient(top,  rgba(238,238,238,1) 0%, rgba(204,204,204,1) 100%); /* FF3.6+ */
    background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, color-stop(0%,rgba(238,238,238,1)), color-stop(100%,rgba(204,204,204,1))); /* Chrome,Safari4+ */
    background: -webkit-linear-gradient(top,  rgba(238,238,238,1) 0%,rgba(204,204,204,1) 100%); /* Chrome10+,Safari5.1+ */
    background: -o-linear-gradient(top,  rgba(238,238,238,1) 0%,rgba(204,204,204,1) 100%); /* Opera 11.10+ */
    background: -ms-linear-gradient(top,  rgba(238,238,238,1) 0%,rgba(204,204,204,1) 100%); /* IE10+ */
    background: linear-gradient(to bottom,  rgba(238,238,238,1) 0%,rgba(204,204,204,1) 100%); /* W3C */
    filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient( startColorstr='#eeeeee', endColorstr='#cccccc',GradientType=0 ); /* IE6-9 */
    border-top-left-radius:4px;
    border-bottom-left-radius:4px;
    border:1px solid #AAA;
    height:12px;
    padding:6px 25px 6px 6px;
    text-align:center;
    font-size:11px;
    font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;
    color:#666;
    text-shadow:0px 1px 0px #e8eae5;
}
#refine:hover {
    background: rgb(238,238,238); /* Old browsers */
    background: -moz-linear-gradient(top,  rgba(238,238,238,1) 0%, rgba(221,221,221,1) 100%); /* FF3.6+ */
    background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, color-stop(0%,rgba(238,238,238,1)), color-stop(100%,rgba(221,221,221,1))); /* Chrome,Safari4+ */
    background: -webkit-linear-gradient(top,  rgba(238,238,238,1) 0%,rgba(221,221,221,1) 100%); /* Chrome10+,Safari5.1+ */
    background: -o-linear-gradient(top,  rgba(238,238,238,1) 0%,rgba(221,221,221,1) 100%); /* Opera 11.10+ */
    background: -ms-linear-gradient(top,  rgba(238,238,238,1) 0%,rgba(221,221,221,1) 100%); /* IE10+ */
    background: linear-gradient(to bottom,  rgba(238,238,238,1) 0%,rgba(221,221,221,1) 100%); /* W3C */
    filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient( startColorstr='#eeeeee', endColorstr='#dddddd',GradientType=0 ); /* IE6-9 */
    cursor:pointer;
}
#submit {
    float: left;
    margin-right:-1px;
    overflow:hidden;
    white-space:nowrap;
    background: rgb(238,238,238); /* Old browsers */
    background: -moz-linear-gradient(top,  rgba(238,238,238,1) 0%, rgba(204,204,204,1) 100%); /* FF3.6+ */
    background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, color-stop(0%,rgba(238,238,238,1)), color-stop(100%,rgba(204,204,204,1))); /* Chrome,Safari4+ */
    background: -webkit-linear-gradient(top,  rgba(238,238,238,1) 0%,rgba(204,204,204,1) 100%); /* Chrome10+,Safari5.1+ */
    background: -o-linear-gradient(top,  rgba(238,238,238,1) 0%,rgba(204,204,204,1) 100%); /* Opera 11.10+ */
    background: -ms-linear-gradient(top,  rgba(238,238,238,1) 0%,rgba(204,204,204,1) 100%); /* IE10+ */
    background: linear-gradient(to bottom,  rgba(238,238,238,1) 0%,rgba(204,204,204,1) 100%); /* W3C */
    filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient( startColorstr='#eeeeee', endColorstr='#cccccc',GradientType=0 ); /* IE6-9 */
    border-top-right-radius:4px;
    border-bottom-right-radius:4px;
    border:1px solid #AAA;
    height:12px;
    padding:6px 6px 6px 6px;
    text-align:center;
    font-size:11px;
    font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;
    color:#666;
    text-shadow:0px 1px 0px #e8eae5;
}
#submit:hover {
    background: rgb(238,238,238); /* Old browsers */
    background: -moz-linear-gradient(top,  rgba(238,238,238,1) 0%, rgba(221,221,221,1) 100%); /* FF3.6+ */
    background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, color-stop(0%,rgba(238,238,238,1)), color-stop(100%,rgba(221,221,221,1))); /* Chrome,Safari4+ */
    background: -webkit-linear-gradient(top,  rgba(238,238,238,1) 0%,rgba(221,221,221,1) 100%); /* Chrome10+,Safari5.1+ */
    background: -o-linear-gradient(top,  rgba(238,238,238,1) 0%,rgba(221,221,221,1) 100%); /* Opera 11.10+ */
    background: -ms-linear-gradient(top,  rgba(238,238,238,1) 0%,rgba(221,221,221,1) 100%); /* IE10+ */
    background: linear-gradient(to bottom,  rgba(238,238,238,1) 0%,rgba(221,221,221,1) 100%); /* W3C */
    filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient( startColorstr='#eeeeee', endColorstr='#dddddd',GradientType=0 ); /* IE6-9 */
    cursor:pointer;
}
.refineClicked {
    background:white !important;
    border-bottom-left-radius:0px !important;
    border-bottom:none !important;
}
.arrow-down {
    position: absolute;
    width: 0;
    height: 0;
    border-left: 5px solid transparent;
    border-right: 5px solid transparent;
    border-top: 5px solid #666;
    right: 7px;
    top: 10px;
}
#search {
    float: left;
    height: 24px;
    margin-right:-5px;
    padding: 0px 7px 0px 7px;
    border:1px solid #AAA;
    color:#444;    
}
#search:focus { outline:none }
#refineDropdown {
    position:relative;
    top:40px;
    left:30px;
    width:150px;
    max-height:200px;
    background:#fff;
    border-left:1px solid #AAA;
    border-right:1px solid #AAA;
    border-bottom:1px solid #AAA;
    word-wrap:normal;
    overflow:auto;
}

#dropdown {
    top: 76px;
    padding:3px;
    width:200px;
    max-height:200px;
    background:#fff;
    border-left:1px solid #CCC;
    border-right:1px solid #CCC;
    border-bottom:1px solid #CCC;
    word-wrap:normal;
    overflow:auto;
    left: 59px;
    position: absolute;
}
ul {
    list-type:none;
    margin:0;
    padding:0;    
}
li {
    padding:5px 10px 5px 10px;
}
li:hover {
    margin:-1px;
    background:#E5F3FF;
    border:1px solid #3366FF;
    cursor:pointer;  
}
.selected {
    margin:-1px;
    background: #E5F3FF;
    border:1px solid #3366FF;
}
.hidden { display:none }

Answer 1

I believe the reason you want this to be done with relative positioning is that you believe absolute positioning is always absolute in relation to the page. Surprise: it isn't.

In fact, what it is absolute to is the first parent that has its position attribute set. As such, the simple solution could be to wrap your entire widget into a div and declare the position of that div as relative.

For example:

<p>adsadds
   <div class='container'>
       <div class='absolutelyPositioned'>BlaBla</div>
   </div>
sddasda</p>

With this css:

.container
{
    position: relative;
}

.absolutelyPositioned
{
    position: absolute;
    top: 100px;
    left: 100px;
}

will have the inner div with "BlaBla" in it position not at (100, 100) of the web page, but of the container div. In other words if I turn <p>adsadds into <p>adsadds <br /> the "BlaBla" will be pushed down as well.