100% height page in IE8

I set body and html to 100% height and then an inner container element to min-height: 100%

This worked in Chrome and Firefox but in IE8 the container element was not stretching to the bottom of the page.

Eventually I found that the GWT date picker widget and photo viewer on the page were not being included in the height of the page.  By setting a specific height on these elements (reserving the space) IE displays the page correctly.  It also makes the page load look smoother.