help please! css three column and dropdown menu

[force10x]

Im "trying" to create a c entered Three Column CSS layout along with a dropdown menu.

the two pages I developed are here
http://force10x.freehostia.com/css_mess/index.htm

Its the index.htm and about.htm pages.

Issue 1. (Both in I.E. v7 as well as Firefox v2)

if you see the about us page you will find there is a gap between the image and the dotted line.
I cant seem to get rid of this Sad
tried padding and margin but no....it just wont go away :9

Issue 2.
the sukerfish dropdown menu just wont show.
I tried the z-index but it wont work either Sad

in I.E. it shows partially. the submenu gets overlapped by the middle column.

I thought the z-index would help but it wont ;(

any pointers on how I can solve these? or maybe I should get back to the HTML table layout as thats much more easier to develop.

thank you for your time and help.

cheers!

Ppsst!!!!
wel, I got the menu to show.
but it wont work as expected.
http://force10x.freehostia.com/css_mess/

funny, I imagined z-index to work, but it wont

[coothead]

Hi there force10x,

and a warm welcome to these forums. ;)

Issue 1:- add this rule to your stylesheet...


#header img {
display:block;
}

Further reading;-

Eric A. Meyer article (http://devedge-temp.mozilla.org/viewsource/2002/img-table/)
Issue 2:-
Your page index.htm has at least 73 coding errors...

http://validator.w3.org/check?verbose=1&uri=http%3A%2F%2Fforce10x.freehostia.com%2Fcss_mess%2Findex.htm
Attend to these these first as they may be the cause of your problems.

Further reading;-

Why you should validate your code before asking for help (http://diveintomark.org/archives/2003/05/05/why_we_wont_help_you)

coothead

[force10x]

awww man!!!!
Sorry about not validating the code.

I have now validated the URL (http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fforce10x.freehostia.com%2Fcss_mess%2Findex.htm&charset=%28detect+automatically%29&doctype=Inline&group=0&verbose=1&st=1)
There are now 25 errors instead of the earlier 73. :(

Most of the errors that it shows are JavaScript errors while the other errors are due to Flash embed.

The JavaScript in itself works fine with no code errors.
I have embeded flash using the Flash Satay method.

As for the CSS the menu now displays without the earlier clipping.
except that now the the text gets cut on the left as though it has some negative margin. The gap between the image and the div in the abour us page too has been taken care of.

though,the gap between the swf and border on the homepage still exists.

any help with these?

thanks again for your time and help.
cheers!

[force10x]

Finally!!!!
it all worked ;-)
http://force10x.freehostia.com/css_mess/

thanks for all your help.

cheers!

[force10x]

okay,
this is strange.

clicking any link on the menu, turns all the links red instead of turning only that particular link red :(

any suggestions how this can be fixed.

thank you for your time and help.