[thelist] first post -- using a variably resizing cell with rowspan?

[Adam Gromfin]

Hello.  I'm new to this list, and this is my first post.  I stumbled on the
list when a google search found your very helpful archives.  I hope this is
an appropriate post/question.  If not, please let me know.  Thanks.  Now on
with the show....

I'm a lawyer by day and a music hobbyist by night.  I'm currently helping a
band redo their site using the joomla content management system.  I have a
decent amount of html experience, but, when it comes to more complex tasks,
know only enough to get myself in trouble.  I write because I've gotten
myself into trouble.

The current design involves two columns, each that variably
expands/collapses. The left column is a sidebar with collapsible sections.
The right column is the main content section that grows/shrinks with the
content on each page. That part was easy enough.  Then I decided that,
because on most pages the sidebar was short and the content long, that it
made sense to "dock" part of our L-shaped footer under the sidebar. Like
this (very draft) site: http://www.hbr.morebutter.net/joomla/rowspan.html

The current right column is just a testing ground, of course. I added
temporary +/- sections to allow simulating the variously sized content on
different pages.

Because of the L-shaped footer, the image under the sidebar (the circle with
the tree) needs to remain docked at the bottom of that column (while the
sidebar content remains docked at the top). I accomplished that using
rowspan and v-align for the two sub-cells in the left column.

All is working well -- with one annoying exception. When the left column is
longer than the right, the bottom-left image properly moves down and stays
bottom-docked, but the left border above it gets lost and replaced with
empty space.

I thought I could remedy that by using a middle cell that variously expands
in hands. I tried it with no height tags and with a height=100% tag. Neither
worked.

If anyone has any suggestions, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance!

-adam