Setting autoHeight: false allows to accordion panels to keep their native height.
<html> <head> <title>jQuery UI Accordion - No Auto Height</title> <link type="text/css" href="js/themes/base/ui.all.css" rel="stylesheet" /> <script type="text/javascript" src="js/jquery-1.3.2.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="js/ui/ui.core.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="js/ui/ui.accordion.js"></script> <link type="text/css" href="js/demos.css" rel="stylesheet" /> <script type="text/javascript"> $(function() { $("#accordion").accordion({ autoHeight: false }); }); </script> </head> <body> <div class="demo"> <div id="accordion"> <h3><a href="">Section 1</a></h3> <div> <p>A</p> </div> <h3><a href="#">Section 2</a></h3> <div> <p>B</p> </div> <h3><a href="#">Section 3</a></h3> <div> <p>C</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </body> </html>