CSS Body width not working on every web page - html

Question

I am relatively new to CSS and I am creating a web application with a number of web pages that I want centered across all web pages. I have created a CSS style sheet where I set the width to 60% and text-align to be centered. On the index page the document in centered but when I hit a link the next page is always the full width of the screen.
I attached some of the code below;
Thanks for the help...
CSS Style sheet
/*
Document : affablebean
Created on : Jun 9, 2010, 3:59:32 PM
Author : tgiunipero
Description: Style rules for the AffableBean application
*/
/* html tags */
body {
font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
width: 60%;
text-align: center;
margin: 20px auto;
}
hr {
border: 0;
background-color: #333;
height: 1px;
margin: 0 25px;
width: 300px;
}
table {
margin: 0 20px;
border-spacing: 0;
text-align: center;
border: solid 1px #f5eabe;
}
/* general styles */
#main { background: #eee }
#singleColumn {
margin: 20px 30px;
text-align: left;
}
.lightBlue { background-color: #edf8f7 }
.white { background-color: #fff }
.bubble {
font-weight: bold;
background-color: #f5eabe;
padding: 5px;
color: inherit;
}
.hMargin { margin: 0 30px }
.smallText { font-size: small }
.header {
background-color: #c3e3e0;
height: 30px;
}
/* styles for elements contained in the header, i.e.,
shopping cart widget, language toggle, and logo */
#header {
height: 250px;
background: #aaa;
}
#logo {
height: 155px;
width: 155px;
float: left;
margin-left: 30px;
margin-top: -20px;
}
#logoText {
float: left;
margin: 20px 0 0 70px;
/* font styles apply to text within img alt attribute */
font-family: 'American Typewriter', Courier, monospace;
font-size: 50px;
color: #333;
}
#widgetBar {
height: 50px;
width: 850px;
float: right;
background: #ccc;
}
.headerWidget {
width: 194px;
margin: 20px 2px;
font-size: small;
float: right;
line-height: 25px;
background: #aaa;
}
/* footer styles */
#footer {
height: 60px;
width: 350px;
clear: left;
background: #aaa;
}
/* index page styles */
#indexLeftColumn {
height: 400px;
width: 350px;
float: left;
background: #ccc;
}
#indexRightColumn {
height: 400px;
width: 500px;
float: left;
background: #eee;
}
.categoryBox {
height: 176px;
width: 212px;
margin: 21px 14px 6px;
float: inherit;
background: #ccc;
}
.categoryLabelText {
line-height: 150%;
font-size: x-large;
}
/* category page styles */
#categoryLeftColumn {
width: 185px;
float: left;
margin-top: 25px;
padding-left: 15px;
}
#categoryRightColumn {
margin-top: 10px;
width: 650px;
float: left;
}
.categoryButton {
margin: 15px 22px;
padding: 13px;
display: block;
background-color: #d3ede8;
}
#selectedCategory {
background-color: #b2d2d2;
margin-left: 10px;
width: 139px;
}
#categoryTitle {
margin: -34px 180px 0 0;
font-size: x-large;
float: right;
background-color: #f5eabe;
padding: 7px;
}
.categoryText {
line-height: 25px;
font-size: x-large;
}
#productTable { width: 600px }
#productTable tr { height: 90px }
#productTable td { width: 145px }
/* cart page styles */
#actionBar {
margin: 30px;
width: 750px;
text-align: center;
}
#subtotal { margin: 40px 0 20px 430px }
#cartTable { width: 750px }
#cartTable td {
width: 145px;
height: 90px;
}
/* checkout page styles */
#checkoutTable {
width: 360px;
background-color: #f5eabe;
float: left;
height: 280px;
}
#infoBox {
width: 300px;
padding-left: 30px;
float: left;
}
#priceBox {
padding: 10px;
margin: 10px 0;
height: 128px;
background-color: #c3e3e0;
}
/* confirmation page styles */
#confirmationText {
margin: 0 20px 20px;
padding: 10px;
background-color: #f5eabe;
float: left;
width:540px;
}
.summaryColumn {
margin-top: 15px;
width: 50%;
float: left;
}
#orderSummaryTable {
width: 100%;
text-align: left;
height: 200px;
}
#deliveryAddressTable {
width: 70%;
margin-left: 15%;
text-align: left;
height: 200px;
}
Index Page
<ui:composition template="/layout/abMainTemplate.xhtml"
xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
xmlns:f="http://java.sun.com/jsf/core"
xmlns:h="http://java.sun.com/jsf/html"
xmlns:ui="http://java.sun.com/jsf/facelets">
<ui:define name="head">
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/affablebean.css"></link>
<title>The Affable Bean</title>
</ui:define>
<ui:define name="content">
<div id="main">
<div id="header">
<div id="widgetBar">
<div class="headerWidget">
[ language toggle ]
</div>
<div class="headerWidget">
[ shopping cart widget ]
</div>
</div>
<a href="#">
<img src="#" id="logo" alt="Affable Bean logo"></img>
</a>
<img src="#" id="logoText" alt="the affable bean"></img>
</div>
<div id="indexLeftColumn">
<div id="welcomText">
<p>[ welcome text ]</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="indexRightColumn">
<div class="categoryBox">
<a href="category.xhtml">
<span class="categoryLabelText">dairy</span>
</a>
</div>
<div class="categoryBox">
<a href="cart.xhtml">
<span class="categoryLabelText">meats</span>
</a>
</div>
<div class="categoryBox">
<a href="checkout.xhtml">
<span class="categoryLabelText">bakery</span>
</a>
</div>
<div class="categoryBox">
<a href="confirmation.xhtml">
<span class="categoryLabelText">fruit and veg</span>
</a>
</div>
</div>
<div id="footer">
<hr>
<p id="footerText">[ footer text ]</p>
</hr>
</div>
</div>
</ui:define>
</ui:composition>
Category Page
<ui:composition template="/layout/abMainTemplate.xhtml"
xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
xmlns:f="http://java.sun.com/jsf/core"
xmlns:h="http://java.sun.com/jsf/html"
xmlns:ui="http://java.sun.com/jsf/facelets">
<ui:define name="head">
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/affablebean.css"></link>
<title>The Affable Bean</title>
</ui:define>
<ui:define name="content">
<div id="main">
<div id="header">
<div id="widgetBar">
<div class="headerWidget">
[ language toggle ]
</div>
<div class="headerWidget">
[ checkout button ]
</div>
<div class="headerWidget">
[ shopping cart widget ]
</div>
</div>
<a href="#">
<img src="#" id="logo" alt="Affable Bean logo"></img>
</a>
<img src="#" id="logoText" alt="the affable bean"></img>
</div>
<div id="categoryLeftColumn">
<div id="selectedCategory">
<a href="#" class="categoryButton">
<span class="categoryText">dairy</span>
</a>
<a href="#" class="categoryButton">
<span class="categoryText">meats</span>
</a>
<a href="#" class="categoryButton">
<span class="categoryText">bakery</span>
</a>
<a href="#" class="categoryButton">
<span class="categoryText">fruit and veg</span>
</a>
</div>
</div>
<div id="categoryRightColumn">
<p id="categoryTitle">[ selected category ]</p>
<table id="productTable">
<tr>
<td class="lightBlue">
<img src="#" alt="product image"></img>
</td>
<td class="lightBlue">
[ product name ]
<br>
<span class="smallText">[ product description ]</span>
</br>
</td>
<td class="lightBlue">[ price ]</td>
<td class="lightBlue">
<form action="#" method="post">
<input type="submit" value="purchase button"></input>
</form>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="white">
<img src="#" alt="product image"></img>
</td>
<td class="white">
[ product name ]
<br>
<span class="smallText">[ product description ]</span>
</br>
</td>
<td class="white">[ price ]</td>
<td class="white">
<form action="#" method="post">
<input type="submit" value="purchase button"></input>
</form>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="lightBlue">
<img src="#" alt="product image"></img>
</td>
<td class="lightBlue">
[ product name ]
<br>
<span class="smallText">[ product description ]</span>
</br>
</td>
<td class="lightBlue">[ price ]</td>
<td class="lightBlue">
<form action="#" method="post">
<input type="submit" value="purchase button"></input>
</form>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="white">
<img src="#" alt="product image"></img>
</td>
<td class="white">
[ product name ]
<br>
<span class="smallText">[ product description ]</span>
</br>
</td>
<td class="white">[ price ]</td>
<td class="white">
<form action="#" method="post">
<input type="submit" value="purchase button"></input>
</form>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
<div id="footer">
footer
</div>
</div>
</ui:define>
</ui:composition>
And the template page
<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8' ?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
xmlns:h="http://xmlns.jcp.org/jsf/html"
xmlns:ui="http://java.sun.com/jsf/facelets">
<h:head>
<ui:insert name="head"></ui:insert>
</h:head>
<h:body>
<ui:insert name="content" ></ui:insert>
</h:body>
</html>

Answer 1

the body element resides inside the html element, and if you want to set any element's width in percent, you should first define it's parent element's width.
html {
padding:0;
margin:0;
width:100%; /* 100% of window with, so the body width of 60% will work as expected */
}

Answer 2

You have to use position: relative or position: absolute command.