100% height layouts with wide content produce vertical scrollbars?

I have a layout using 100% height with content inside that has a large fixed width... this content isn't tall in height, just wide. When you view with a browser that has a width smaller than the inner content, then a horizontal scroll bar is produced. I'm expecting this... however, since the horizontal scroll bar has a defined height a vertical scroll bar is produced since the browser is using the height 100% determined when this scroll bar doesn't exist. I'm confused... how do I get rid of this vertical scroll bar and is this expected behavior?

Thanks.

-josh

Example 2: Position a footer with CSS - step 2