how to code my layout - CSS help

Well I have a question about a layout I made so I guess this is the place to post it. If not, I'm sorry and please move it to where it needs to go. My layout is as such:

layout

and I'm wondering how to use CSS to code this. I'm using Dreamweaver but I have a pretty good understanding of CSS. Putting it to use is another thing though. The header is an image (transparent .gif) but the other two boxes should be made with CSS. I don't know how to posistion the boxes up against each other and make them look good in all browsers. Should I use relative, absolute, or static posistioning? I don't need the code written for me, I just need some advice as to how I should go about acheiving what I have discussed. Thanks for your help.

tom

You dont have directory acces to your site so we cant see it. For layout I dont particularily like CSS positioning. I usually stick to the design side of CSS. Fonts, borders, etc.

I don't understand why you can't see the image. Even if you copy and paste

http://trhaynes.ionichost.com/stuff/helponthisone.gif

you can't see it? What do I need to do? Or is it my host?

tom

K, I saved as for the image and now I see it. check out this site:

www.bluerobot.com

He's got some great stuff on CSS positioning. without using Tables. But what I noticed is it varies depending on the browser. Sometimes it looked ok, then you go to Opera and some of the objects are all crammed into one corner. lol.

So I bagged that idea and went back to tables.

But I'm having a problem linking to other images, too, on the same directory. What exactly is the problem and what should I do about it?

Thanks for the tutorial - quite helpful and I'll keep in mind that tables might be best.

tom

If you are interested at all in CSS, I'd pick up a copy of Zeldmans book: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0735712018/qid=1056636531/sr=1-4/ref=sr_1_4/102-3586893-2710527?v=glance&s=books

It's very well written and has a lot of real-world examples.

I'd try to use CSS for layout if you can, because of the many many advantages of it, but if you don't think you can, just use a single table or two to get the basic layout, then use CSS for controlling white space, fonts, colors, etc. Nesting your tables and using the cellspacing and transparent GIF hacks is what really makes HTML especially bad for layout. But again, zeldman's does a much better job of explaining the advantages of CSS than I ever would.

tom check your P/M

pat