Problems with relative table cell sizes in IE

[Arces]

Here's a simplified version of what I'm trying to do.

¦-¦-----¦
¦a¦   ¦
¦-¦   ¦
¦ ¦   ¦
¦ ¦   ¦
¦b¦ d ¦
¦ ¦   ¦
¦-¦   ¦
¦c¦   ¦
¦-¦-----¦

The idea is to have the content area (D) to define the size of the table. A and C contain an image and have fixed values, but B doesn't - it has a repeating background and is supposed to fill up the space between A and C. This works great in firefox, but IE just ignores the height settings I've set up for A and C cells. Any idea what am I really missing here?

//sample code:
<table>
<tr>
 <td width="20" height="30"><img src="someimage.jpg" width="20" height="30"></td>
 <td rowspan="3">*content comes here*</td>
</tr>
<tr><td background="repeatingbackground.jpg"><img src="anemptypixel.jpg" width="1" height="1"></td></tr>
<tr><td height="40"><img src="someotherimage.jpg" width="20" height="40"></td></tr>
</table>

[Arces]

Just found a workaround for this problem :)

[encyclo]

Just found a workaround for this problem :)

Do share - someone else might find this thread later and would love the explanation. :)

[rocknbil]

Yes, you'll have to use spacer images or something to fix the height. Break tags,   or other HTML elements will vary from browser to browser and system to system, fixed images won't.