[thelist] html div

[Lightening]

Here is a question so simple, it embarasses me to ask. 

No matter -  it would embarass me more to continue to not know!

I've been coding my html with tables for years, but tables are not the right tool for this application.

So I am using DIV instead. 

Trouble I am having is the browser puts the various blocks of DIV where it wants to, and not where I want it to be.

I am trying to have a header, a footer, each spanning the page, and a left, center and right column. I am using css, if that matters. 

Would anyone please give me some pointers on how to get these divs properly aligned?

thanks , Laura

ps, code available on request.