Getting pages to look right in different browsers and screen resoutions

[scyth]

I know this is a common problem with web design but i'm quite new to it and it's driving me crazy. I've created a graphic to go at the top of my page to do with the theme of my website but in different browser and screen resolutions it looks different. How do people normally solve this problem?

I'd be very grateful if someone could give me some advice on this i'm a bit of a noob to web design and its really frustrating me.

I read somewhere that you should design for screen resolutions 800 by 600 but my graphic just overlaps as i have a higher resolution screen.I've also heard there is a script that adjusts the pages to fit the browsers but ive been unable to find it. does anyone use it?

thanks for your help :-)

[tedster]

First, I'd suggest you study the importance of a DTD, the implications of whatever DTD you are using, and especially the differences between standards mode and quirks mode [webmasterworld.com]. This will give you an idea of how your mark-up should work.

Then learn to depend on validation: [validator.w3.org...] -- trying to get a layout to work under different browser/screen conditions without first knowing that the mark-up is valid will drive you crazy, and it can even be impossible.

I read somewhere that you should design for screen resolutions 800 by 600 but my graphic just overlaps as i have a higher resolution screen.

This sounds like you might be using position:absolute but giving a screen position rule that depends on the window size. Either that or perhaps there is some invalid coding. Those are two common ways to get images that overlap, which otherwise is not very often seen.