You've got [url=http://validator.w3.org/check?verbose=1&uri=http%3A//www.nando.myacen.com/blog/]347 validation errors[/url] in your xhtml. I suspect somewhere in there is why some of your sidebar stuff looks bad in FF but no IE. Firefox complies to agreed-upon standards - IE doesn't give a crap about anything other than IE.

For the record: it has the same sidebar issue in Mozilla and fails to give the white background. Opera doesn't have the sidebar issue but also fails to give the white background. If those were my default browsers I would have a very hard time reading your blog because your links blend into the background of the overall page.

One issue that stands out rather loudly is your use of "</br>". That is not a valid tag. Wherever you have that try "<br />" instead. I believe that alone will clear up truckloads of your validation issues.

After you get your xhtml validated you can work on your css, which is where your lack of white background (in some browsers) is probably coming from.

<rant mode>
STOP coding as if IE was the standard - it's not. START coding as if Firefox was - it's noticably better in almost every regard. In other words, you tested your stuff in your browser of choice, but didn't think about visitors who prefer a secure and standards-compliant browser. Going the other way highly increases the likelyhood that *all* your visitors will enjoy your web the way you want them to. Even if you like IE keep in mind it's not the only browser in the world. It's a POS, but that's beside the point. Target the widest audience you can and you'll get the widest audience your words deserve.
</rant mode>

Please excuse my ranting. Fix the bad BR tags and the basic issue you asked about will probably go away. As to looking *exactly* the same: not likely. ALL browsers interpret some things slightly differently. It takes a heck of a lot of work to make everything look the same in every browser out there. Would you be happy with "it looks good and is close enough"?

Ok, thanks for the tip. I'll start doing it slowly and will let you know the result.

Cheers!

Ok, I changed all the "</br>" I could find. The page still doesn't have the white background it should have. What is wrong? I don't understand CSS...

Please, help :)

So far so good - you've got the links in your sidebar working correctly. You still have a lot of xhtml errors though, and that makes the CSS validator not work. It's cranky like that: wants valid code before it will do it's job. Bleh! What's funny is when I use Mozilla I don't see the white background (which comes from bg_content.gif) but if I right-click and tell it to view background it shows me bg_content.gif. Firefox shows the background the way you intended it to be. Makes no sense to me!

Hopefully one of the people who know css well will come along and help out. The way I do it is to get valid xhtml then blunder through the css until it validates AND works. Usually a lot of blundering, frequently ending with me deciding it's not worth it... ;)

Between now and then you might consider fixing the rest of your xhtml issues so you can try to validate the css. Validating your css MIGHT help you pinpoint the problem. Here's some hints on the rest of your xhtml errors: all tags have to be closed, but you can't close something that's not open. For example even an image tag needs to be closed, like this:

<img src="blahblahblah" alt="imageimageimage" />

Notice the "space slash" before the >? That's how they need to be. I saw a few cases where you had </em> but no <em> before it. Those gotta go, and no worries since they aren't doing anything anyway. Another trick is you can't use capital letters anymore. </A> is bad - </a> is good. The validator link in my reply above has an option to "show source". Using that can help you find the errors by seeing which part of your page they happen at.

Often you can fix several errors at once just by pinpointing something that keeps repeating. Like for example a problem in your _linkblog.php file might create 20 errors by the time the page is written. I like it when that happens cuz I get a lot of cleanup for finding one booboo.

Good luck with it!

The thing is most of those validations errors you mentioned come from the posts and not from the .php file in the template folder, so I don't know how to correct them. What annoys me the most is the background issue, though...

I hope someone can help. Anyway, thanks for your tips! ;)