Trying to manipulate the body element kinda restricts what you can do with your layout.
By using div elements and manipulating their margins, you can accurately control the size and position of the element.
And by manipulating their padding you can accurately control the positioning of their contents.
Example:
CSS Code:
<html>
<head>
<style>
body
{
margin:0px;
background-color:#FFFFFF;
color:#3B3B3B;
font-family:'Trebuchet MS', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
line-height:14px;
font-size:0.75em;
}
#header
{
height:19%;
margin-left:25%;
margin-right:5%;
padding-left:10px;
padding-top:5px;
border:1px solid #000000;
}
#content
{
height:52%;
margin-left:5%;
margin-right:25%;
padding-left:50px;
padding-top:40px;;
border:1px solid #000000;
}
#footer
{
height:19%;
margin-left:15%;
margin-right:15%;
text-align:center;
padding-top:15px;
border:1px solid #000000;
}
</style>
<!--[if IE]>
<style>
#header
{
height:20%;
}
#content
{
height:60%;
}
#footer
{
height:20%;
}
</style>
<![endif]-->
</head>
<body>
<div id="header">Header Stuf</div>
<div id="content">Content Stuf</div>
<div id="footer">Footer Stuf</div>
</body>
</html>