I do and move to pure CSS, with layers
There is no such things as layers. They are a term invented by Macromedia to try and make things easier to understand. IMO all it did was confuse things.
The problem with css is that it's very different to using tables. It's considerably better and well worth sticking with, but you need to learn to think in a different way.
Faux columns have already been mentioned and they're exactly how I do the columns on Binary Moon. The columns themselves should be floated to get them in the correct positions, and then a cleared footer will make the containing div (with the faux column background) cover all the content.
So a three column layout with a header and a footer would be 6 divs. A lot cleaner than a table with a million cells and half a million spacer gifs :)
I agree. I thought CSS was all about separating style from content. :/
It is - The page layout isn't the content. The content goes in the html, the layout goes in the css. It's not difficult :)