Issue 1: Your sidebar is floated inside the mainbody container, and the content text is nested. Floated elements do not take up any space inside a container (i.e. They are not "enclosed" or "wrapped"), hence the background does not fall below the content. You should "clear" the floated element to achieve the desired affect. Check out these links: 1. The float theory http://www.positioniseverything.net/articles/float-theory.html 2. Clearing floats easily http://www.positioniseverything.net/easyclearing.html 3. Floating bugs in IE http://www.positioniseverything.net/articles/float-bugs-1.html Issue 2: min-width: 600px; should work, only IE doesn't care about it :-( Hope this was of any help. Adios, Prabhath