Getting unwanted borders

[LABachlr]

I'm trying to do a very simple thing, but it is not coming to fruition. All I want to do is to have a black strip (about 2 inches in width (verticle)) that goes across the top of the web page that will have both the title of the website, and its buttons in it.

Then below that, for the rest of the page, I would like for it to be white. I have tried to do it in layout mode in Dreamweaver MX, but to no avail. It continues to give a white border around the sides and top of the black strip.

I would also like the strip to autostretch so that no matter how wide a browser gets, there is still a black strip that covers the top first 2 inches of the webpage.

Please advise.

[lorax]

It's a relatively easy fix but it depends upon how you are building the page. Not knowing how you've built the page I can only offer you a some pointers.

If you used a table for the black area set the width to 100% and set the page margins (under page properties) to zero. The 100% width tells the table to fill the screen and setting the margins to zero should get rid of the white border.

[grahamstewart]

The white border is probably caused by margin or padding on body. You could get rid of this by using this CSS..

body {
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
}

As for creating the strip itself. I would just use..

<div id="sitebanner">
Your Site Name Here
</div>

in the html and then style it with some simple CSS..

#sitebanner {
color: #fff;
background: #000;
font: 300% arial, sans-serif;
padding: 10px;
}

Tables for layout = yuck :)

[LABachlr]

Thanks. I am actually making the page in Layout Mode (Layout View) in Dreamweaver MX. So, if you could give me direction based on that, that would be great. I prefer to use Dreamweaver's interface vs. coding it, so if you would walk me thru the CSS style mentioned via the interface, I'd appreciate that as well, however, I will take a look at it myself. Thanks for the tip.

I do some of my own coding when need be, but the interface is preferable.

[LABachlr]

Actually, I just figured it out from your hint to use CSS. Just modified the body tag, setting the padding and margins to zero. Then just set the layout table to "autostretch" and I was good to go!

Thanks!

[grahamstewart]

Glad you figured it out cos I can't help. I've never used Dreamweaver - I do all my coding in Textpad [textpad.com] :)

[LABachlr]

I've never used Dreamweaver - I do all my coding in Textpad :)

Wow. You should try it sometime. You'd save your self a lot of work, which could turn into extra cash if you are a pro. Just go to macromedia's website and download the trial version to check it out. It is definitely worth the investment. You would probably make back the money on one site with the time that it would save you. If you are a student, or you know someone who is in the educational field in any manner, buy it at journeyed.com at a killer discount.

[grahamstewart]

Thanks, but I'll stick with Textpad for now.

turn into extra cash if you are a pro

Possibly, but right now I make my money by producing custom sites with tight, professional code.

I find most wysiwyg editors cluttered and overly complex. Plus they always seem to create quite bloated code (tables for layout..yeugh) and the resulting sites never seem to be quite right.

Having said that, I suspect a lot of that is changing with the newer products, so maybe it is time I took another look - but at $399 I can't really justify it right now.

(Web coding isn't a full time gig for me you see. I'm just doing it to pay the bills while I'm on holiday for a year. If I were full time then I might consider it, if only to produce rapid mockups for clients).

[LABachlr]

but at $399 I can't really justify it right now.

Well, there are cheaper methods of obtaining it:

1. Get it from a friend for free
2. Find someone who is a student, teacher, or somehow associated with the educational system, and buy Dreamweaver MX from journeyed.com for $99.98, or buy the whole MX Studio for $199.98 from the same site.

(Web coding isn't a full time gig for me you see. I'm just doing it to pay the bills while I'm on holiday for a year. If I were full time then I might consider it, if only to produce rapid mockups for clients).

Makes sense.