The CSS property display: inline-block was designed to address this need. You can read a bit about it here: http://robertnyman.com/2010/02/24/css-display-inline-block-why-it-rocks-and-why-it-sucks/
Below is an example of its use. The key elements are that the row element has white-space: nowrap and the cell elements have display: inline-block. This example should work on most major browsers; a compatibility table is available here: http://caniuse.com/#feat=inline-block
<html>
<body>
<style>
.row {
float:left;
border: 1px solid yellow;
width: 100%;
overflow: auto;
white-space: nowrap;
}
.cell {
display: inline-block;
border: 1px solid red;
width: 200px;
height: 100px;
}
</style>
<div class="row">
<div class="cell">a</div>
<div class="cell">b</div>
<div class="cell">c</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>