Here's how I do fluid 3 column and get the body first easy-peesy
HTML Code:
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<head>
<title>Page Title</title>
<style type="text/css">
/*** The Layout Styles ***/
html {background:#fff;}
body {background: #fff;padding:0; margin:0;}
#header{position:absolute;top:0;clear:both;height:150px;margin:5px 25px;width:93%; }
#content {position:absolute;float:left;text-align:left;left:250px;right:250px !important; right:190px;}
#menu{position:relative;margin-left:0px;width:200px;float:left;text-align:left;}
#feat{position:relative;right:0px;width:200px;float:right;text-align:left;}
#footer {position:static;font-size:xx-small;text-align:center;clear:both;}
#container{margin-top:155px;float:left;width:100%;}
#wrap{margin:0 25px;width:95%;}
/*** Main Decoration and Color ***/
body {font-family:verdana,arial,sans-serif,serif;font-size:small;}
#header{background:#fff;}
#content {clear:both;}
#container{}
#feat{}
#menu{margin-bottom:100px;}
#footer{color:#000;border-top:1px solid #ccc;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<div id='wrap'>
<div id='container'>
<div id="content" >
This is the main body content
</div>
<div id='menu'>
This is the left column
</div>
<div id='feat'>
This is the right column
</div>
<div id="header">
This is the header section
</div>
</div>
<div class='clr'></div>
<div id="footer">
This is the footer information
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>