I'm not entirely sure where I have got this from but as a rule of habbit if I have a clear div after some floated elements i do the following.

```
<div class='clear'></div>

```

Then in the css

```
.clear{ clear:both; width 100% }

```

For the most part this has seen me through many years as a developer, that is until today.

Today I find out that the 100% width bit was breaking a layout in IE7, removing the width fixed it.

My question is a simple one: **Are there any reasons why a width is required on a clear div?**