I have a table with two columns. The left column has 13 cells. From these 13 cells, 12 have fixed height and the last one is supposed to stretch, when I put stuff in the other columns. I've tried to control the heights with CSS and for nothing, the cells still expand vertically.
To see what I mean, check http://www.jasonizer.com/jason_newsted_news.html. You will notice that I had to split the column at the right in two (the one with the content), so the content won't stretch the menu. I want to get rid of having to split the content column in two.
How about this:
Have one cell in the left column, with variable hight and set to align vertically to top. Then insert your menu as a table with one column and 12 rows. The menu will then remain at the top of the column.