This diagram illustrates the effects of absolutely positioning a box.
A document window is shown, with 8 lines (numbered 1 to 8), each 24px high. All text outside the "outer" box has been flowed into lines 1 and 2.
The "outer" box is positioned absolutely so that it occupies the lower right quadrant of the document window. All text in "outer" and its descendants occupies the second half of lines 5 through 8.
In the following PRE element, each 24 pixel line is simulated by two lines, the second beginning with the appropriate number. The lines, as they appear in the image, contain:
1 Beginning of body contents. End of 2 body contents. 3 4 5 Start of outer 6 contents. Inner 7 contents. End of 8 outer contents.
The default text color is black. "Start of outer contents" is red. "Inner contents" is blue. "End of outer contents" is red.