So come on guys, whats the best possition of the head to scratch when you have an itch?

actually I'm just confused, I feel like banging my head on a brick wall building my website is doing my nut in.

All I want to do is put a background in have buttons around the background image and have a table in the middle so I can write and put info in (well I'd also like a scroll bar but at the moment I cant even get the basic design working).

When I put the image as a background it keeps tiling all I want is a picture in the centre and the rest being white, when I put the table in it looks fine in the editor but when I put it internet explore it puts huge gaps in it (when I had split the table into two parts).

grr.

I thought about putting it as an image but then i realised it would affect the table, then I thought about making an image map (which solves the button problem) but I wouldnt be able to have a table over it.