You should try to write your CSS to work in a modern browser first ( FireFox, Safari and or Opera) then hack your code (if need be) for IE. You can find this tip in Dave Shea's CSS CribSheet.

You might also find these links useful:

http://www.mezzoblue.com/zengarden/resources/

http://alistapart.com/

Cheers!

g

after visiting this site, and a close study of the css rules as applied
in samples, I however came up with this rule, very simple but it did
the magic. It automatically stretch the div downwards thereby allowing
a single background for the containing sub elements.

Sites links by Ghyslain
http://www.mezzoblue.com/zengarden/resources/

http://alistapart.com/

body {
background-color: #FF9902;
font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif;
font-size: 14px;
margin: 0px 10%;
padding: 0px;
}
div#table{
margin:0px auto;
padding-bottom:30px;
background-color: #FFFFFF;
overflow:hidden;
}
div#cont{
width:300px;
padding:10px;
float:left;
}
credits to creativebits and Ghyslain. Bravo!
for more technical issue about browsers please visit projectseven.com