height is set to height of outer div, outer div has NO PADDING
by Ian Roberts
HTML
<div id="layout"><div id="sidebar"></div><div id="content"></div></div>
CSS
*{float:left;}
#layout {background:#fad400;}
#content {padding:10px;background:#333;height:100px;}
#sidebar {padding:10px;background:#040;}
JavaScript
//height is set to height of outer div, outer div has NO PADDING
$("#sidebar").css({'height':($("#layout").height()+'px')});