Try playing around with the following, but it was only a very quick look :)

.bPosts {
margin: 20px auto;
vertical-align: top;
float: left;
width: 70%;
background: #fff;
font-size: 100%;
padding-left:20px;
}
div.action_messages {
margin: 0 2ex;
}
.bPost, .bPostpublished {
margin: 0 auto;
width: 630px;background: url(img/sbbody-r.gif) no-repeat bottom right;
font-size: 100%;
overflow: hidden;
}

Ok. That worked; but now I have a white band running down the left side????

Any ideas on how to get rid of it or what I did or didn't do?

Home Design Sense http://www.homedesignsense.com/blog

Thanks

Yes, the background is an image so if you want to keep that image, there is a maximum width be it % or px, play around with those until it closes up enough to hide the white background behind the image

I guess I'm confused. What image is causing this?

http://homedesignsense.com/blog/skins/platinum/img/sbbody-r.gif
http://homedesignsense.com/blog/skins/platinum/img/sbhead-r.gif

Platinum won't stretch without stretching the actual images used. Trust me: I tried. In truth I did stretch it as much as was possible given the image dimensions, but yeah it always leaves an ugly gap on a big monitor. "Big" back in the day, but average now yah? At a minimum there is an image on top and bottom of the post, but wow it was crazy to figure out how the original creator did that style.

Alternatively, it would make a nice fixed width skin with the blank portion split on the left and right sides.

Thanks. I guess I will look at some of the other skins. Any suggestions (that will work with my images)?

Not too hasty. I made some custom images for you.

Replace /skins/platinum/img/sbhead-r.gif with [url=http://www.dev.hemminga.net/1103/skins/platinum/img/sbhead-r.gif]sbhead-r.gif[/url] and replace /skins/platinum/img/sbbody-r.gif with [url=http://www.dev.hemminga.net/1103/skins/platinum/img/sbbody-r.gif]sbbody-r.gif[/url]

I tested this for a width of 700 for .bPost:

/* Styles for posts */
.bPosts {
margin: 20px auto;
vertical-align: top;
float: left;
width: 700px;
background: #fff;
font-size: 100%;
padding-left:20px;
}
div.action_messages {
margin: 0 2ex;
}
.bPost, .bPostpublished {
margin: 0 auto;
width: 700px;
background: url(img/sbbody-r.gif) no-repeat bottom right;
font-size: 100%;
overflow: hidden;
}

width: 700px; is mentioned twice. Do test other pages like the comment page.

Good luck

OK. I finally got to make the changes you suggested and the graphics are fine. Thanks! Your help did the trick. Thank you Afwas! And; of course others who helped!!