Having problems with creating a fluid formatting.

Question

I'm struggling terribly to figure out why my content overflows and my divs aren't playing nicely. (all sitting where they should be.) This is a link to what I've got currently. I'll keep trying things. But any help would appreciated.

http://jsfiddle.net/X53vD/

With thanks, Sam.

    #wrapper {
    width: 100%;
    height:auto;
    background-image: url(images/shattered.png);
    background-repeat: repeat;
    margin: auto;

    }

#header {
    width: 95%;
    height: 5%; 
    max-width: 1024px ; 
    max-height: 768px ;
    background-color: rgba(102,204,255,50);
    margin: 0.5% ;
    border: 0.5% ridge rgb(204,255,204);
    padding: 0.5%;
    }

#menu {
    width: 5%;
    height: 80%; 
    max-width: 1024px ; 
    max-height: 768px ;
    float: left;
    background-color: rgba(102,204,255,50);
    margin: 0.5% ;
    border: 0.5% ridge rgb(204,255,204);
    padding: 0.5%;
    }

#sidebar {
    width: 5% ;
    height: 80%;
    max-width: 1024px ; 
    max-height: 768px ;
    float: right ;
    background-color: rgba(102,204,255,50);
    margin: 0.5% ;
    border: 0.5% ridge rgb(204,255,204);
    padding: 0.5%;
    }

#content {
    width: 80% ;
    height: 80%; 
    max-width: 1024px ; 
    max-height: 768px ;
    background-color: rgba(215, 239, 255,70);
    margin: 0.5% ;
    border: 0.5% ridge rgb(255, 232, 124);
    padding: 0.5%;
    }

#footer {
    width: 95% ;
    height: 5%;
    max-width: 1024px ; 
    max-height: 768px ; 
    clear: both; 
    background-color: rgba(102,204,255,50);
    margin: 0.5% ;
    border: 0.5% ridge rgb(204,255,204);
    padding: 0.5%;
    }  

Answer 1

Your content is bleeding out of it's containers because you have set them to be too small. For example the menu:

#menu {
    width: 5%;
}

I've cleaned up your layout and set more confortable widths. You can see it here.

http://jsfiddle.net/X53vD/10/embedded/result/

Are you trying to make a responsive site?