layout help

[pdrucker]

I am wokring on a mew layout using tables. what i would like is a navigation bar at the left, and two cells above a content block. however, when the html is made the two cells above the content stretch down too far. what i want is for the content to have 100% height. i know that may be confusing. let me know if you need more help. the problem is only in IE, it works fine in FF. here is what I have:

<table width="700" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
  <tr>
    <td rowspan="2" valign="top" width="100"><p>this is the menu:</p>
    <p>-</p>
    <p>-</p>
    <p>-</p>
    <p>-</p>
    <p>-</p>
    <p>&nbsp; </p></td>
    <td valign="top" height="100">this is the banner text </td>
    <td valign="top"><p>this is the contact</p>
    <p>phone: </p>
    <p>&nbsp;</p></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td colspan="2" valign="top" height="100%">this is the content text </td>
  </tr>
</table>

 

[Serverextreme]

Hello here is a great site thats has everything you will need to know
about tables http://www.draac.com/tabletalk.html there is even a table layout
you can CCP and edit to suit your liking.....Enjoy

 

[pdrucker]

thanks, i already know the information on that site though. my problem is just an incompatibility issue i think. like i know how to make a table and she the heights and alignments, its just not working correctly in IE.

 

[themoose]

http://www.hotdesign.com/seybold/

uhuh.

 

[majorglory]

    <td valign="top" height="100">this is the banner text </td>

I think this is the problem, but im not sure. Just take out "height="100" and see if that was the problem.

[edit]
no that wasn't it. now that i put in a file and looked at it in a browser.. (firefox) i see what you mean.

[edit 2]
its because of the <p></p> tags, use </br> instead. <div>'s are another way to do it too..
Overall, however, I recommend CSS due to faster loading, simpler code, etc.

<table width="700" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr>
<td rowspan="2" valign="top">
<b>Menu:</b></br>Home</br>About</br>Contact</br>
</td>
<td valign="top">
this is the banner text 
</td>
<td valign="top">contact
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" valign="top">this is the content text 
</td>
</tr>
</table>

 

[pdrucker]

hey T.M. if you want to make a layout like that with CSS go ahead. i was just wondering if there was a fix for my problem.

 

[pdrucker]

this is the html i currently have. is you have any ideas theyre welcomed.

<table width="700" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
  <tr>
    <td rowspan="2" valign="top" width="100">this is the menu:<br/><br/>
	-<br/><br/>
	-<br/><br/>
	-<br/><br/>
	-<br/><br/>
	-<br/><br/>
	-<br/><br/>
	-<br/><br/>
	-<br/><br/>
	</td>
    <td valign="middle">this is the banner text </td>
    <td valign="top">this is the contact<br/><br/>
   phone: 
    </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td colspan="2" valign="top" height="100%">this is the content text </td>
  </tr>
</table>