floating a center div

I am new at this, css, and am having trouble doing what I want to do.

I want div columns on the left and right that have a background
image. Then I want a div in the center, of fixed width, with my
content. I want the left and right divs to expand or contract to fill
the space when the browser is resized. Alternately I want the center
div to float over the side divs when the browser's width is less than
the width of the three div's width together.

What I have so far has the side divs covering the center div.
http://www.blueheronhealth.net/test.htm


Gary

Gary wrote:
> I am new at this, css, and am having trouble doing what I want to do.
>
> I want div columns on the left and right that have a background
> image. Then I want a div in the center, of fixed width, with my
> content. I want the left and right divs to expand or contract to fill
> the space when the browser is resized. Alternately I want the center
> div to float over the side divs when the browser's width is less than
> the width of the three div's width together.
>
> What I have so far has the side divs covering the center div.
> http://www.blueheronhealth.net/test.htm
>
>
> Gary
>
Hi Gary,
I'm pretty new to this, too, but maybe I can be of some help. It look
to me as though you're going about this the wrong way. You've got a
tiling background image that you are using to fill two foreground divs.
I think that what you want to do is get rid of the two side divs, and
use your bg image as just that. Kind of like this:

<style type="text/css">
#body{
width:100%;
background:url(../img/bamboo.gif) 50% 0;
}
#middle{
width:700px;
margin:auto 0;
}
</style>

I'd also suggest:
-using a jpeg bg instead of that rather heavily pixelated gif.
-naming your divs based on what's in them, rather than where they
are...what if you decide to move them later? Then those labels will be
quite confusing.
-using an <H1> instead of an image for your title, then replacing it
with an image in the CSS.
-not using absolute position unless you have to.

But take all this with a grain of salt, as I'm a beginner like yourself.
As a frequent lurker on this board, I just though it was time I at
least tried to contribute something. Best of luck!
cheers,
j