Theoretically IE should reflow boxes that have a height specified, but are too short. I'm finding though that this doesn't seem to work sometimes, so for testing this page can be loaded with a doctype and also without. (Thereby changing the standards compliance.)
<div style="width: 25%" /><div style="width: 25%; padding: 1em 10% 1em 10%" />floated to the left. Its height is relatively small…div:
This is the actual content. The containing divs on this page,
.body.centercolhave a height of 0. In IE, this should cause them to reflow around the elements that they contain. The other elements,
.leftcol.content.heightmatch.rightcolhave a height of 100%. This should cause them to fill to the height of their containing block,
margin-right of its preceding sibling, centercol, is such so as to allow it to be visible.