IE Styling Problem(s)

[NewBreed]

Hi, I learned how to design web pages as a hobby. Ever since I've been coding it's very tiresome to fix Internet explorer problems. I don't know why on earth M$ made such a conflicting browser or why 40%+ of the users on the web use IE6 & 7! Anyways, considering that I'm somewhat uneducated on compatibility I was looking for help and perhaps some pointers on how to avoid such problems.

First I'd like help on this: http://everythingzen.freehostia.com
php includes: http://everythingzen.freehostia.com/doggy.php
http://everythingzen.freehostia.com/footer.php

I've validated the css and html. They came up with no problems.
For best results on evaluating this problem, please view this on IE 6/7 and any other reliable browser as a cross reference. My hypothesis is that the problem lies in the .rightpannel & .leftpannel
I'm looking for an easy fast solution that will work for all screen resolutions and all common browser. (IE,FF,Opera,Safari)

I'd really like not having to change my whole template on this website but if you can refer me to a similar template that is cross browser compatible or just some tips how to avoid problems like this that would be more than appreciated. Thanks in advanced.

 

[Logan]

Viewing the page in both IE7 and Google Chrome, the only difference I notice is that I'm able to scroll horizontally in Chrome. You're not very specific as to what the problem is, and since you indicate that the problem only occurs in IE, I can't be sure.
You can easily eliminate the user's ability to scroll horizontally by setting overflow-x: hidden; on your body {} in the CSS.

It also looks to me like you're not using proper XHTML which is essential for cross-browser compatibility. XHTML is just a stricter way of writing your markup that all browsers understand, use the W3C XHTML validator to see how you need to change your pages for valid XHTML. Doing this shouldn't change the way they look, so I wouldn't worry about that.

If this hasn't helped much, let me know exactly what you're unhappy with and I'll be able to provide more specific help.