Creating a layered look with multiple page and table backgrounds, like I've used on this page, is easy, but like any other feature don't over do it! Here's the code for this page:
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Example: Layered Backgrounds</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY BGCOLOR="white" BACKGROUND="http://yourserver.com/yourbackground.jpg" TEXT="black" LINK="red" VLINK="red" ALINK="red">
<P>
<P>
<TABLE WIDTH="620" BORDER="4" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" BGCOLOR="red" ALIGN="center">
<TR><TD>
<P>
<TABLE WIDTH="550" BORDER="1" CELLPADDING="10" CELLSPACING="0" BGCOLOR="white" ALIGN="center">
<TR><TD>
(page contents go here)
</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<BR>
</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P>
</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
</BODY>
</HTML>
If you are using this in an eBay-type auction, you will need to use only the the code within the BODY tags, stripping everything above and below those points, including the BODY tags themselves. You will also need to add another layer of TABLE to make up for the lost BODY information. Here's the code you would use. I've shown the added TABLE elements in red:
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" BACKGROUND="http://yourserver.com/yourbackground.jpg">
<TR><TD>
<P>
<P>
<TABLE WIDTH="620" BORDER="4" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" BGCOLOR="red" ALIGN="center">
<TR><TD>
<P>
<TABLE WIDTH="550" BORDER="1" CELLPADDING="10" CELLSPACING="0" BGCOLOR="white" ALIGN="center">
<TR><TD>
(page contents go here)
</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
</UL>
<BR>
∓nbsp;
</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P>
</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P>
</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
