[caliman]

That's in the ballpark.

The middle column will not shrink down past a point even though all it has is 'Welcome to the store!'

Looking at the td's closely, I don't see them being hardset other than the 150px spacers in the navigation and cart menus.

SO I am with you, it's being held up somewhere else but I can't find it.

I've searched this site pretty well now and I haven't found anyone specifically detailing this issue.