ll avoid margin collapse - an unexplainable space between divs. If the div has a border around it, this is not necessary as that also avoids the margin collapse */ padding: 5px 0; /* using padding instead of margin will allow you to keep the element away from the edges of the div */ } .oneColFixCtrHdr #mainContent { padding: 0 6px 12px 6px; /* remember that padding is the space inside the div box and margin is the space outside the div box */ background: #FFFFFF; vertical-align: top; } .oneColFixCtrHdr #footer { padding: 0 10px; /* this padding matches the left alignment of the elements in the divs that appear above it. */ background:#DDDDDD; } .oneColFixCtrHdr #footer p { margin: 0; /* zeroing the margins of the first element in the footer will avoid the possibility of margin collapse - a space between divs */ padding: 10px 0; /* padding on this element will create space, just as the the margin would have, without the margin collapse issue */ } .bodycopy { font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 16px; color: #000; } .fineprint { font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 5px; } .maintable { border-bottom-width: 2px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: #000; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 10px; } -->