"floating" text box? and an I.E compatability issue

Hi Folks,

Just started working on a site for my wifes freind, very new to html / css and had a couple of questions.

First i have a layout i like and when viewed in Firefox, chrome etc works fine but in IE the menu bar has spacing inserted betweent he images so it pushes the last image onto the next line, i seem to rmember theres a workaround but i havent been able to find it any help would be great, heres a screenshot.

Also, i have a slice with an area for text, id ideally like to make this in code and not use a .gif , so the box border stays fixed and doesnt change with text imput till it reaches a min height, failing that how can i makle a “floating” text box that sits over the frame .gif and i can imput text and edit it without having to upload a new .gif of the box itself everytime i want to change the text. i realise the box wouldnt grow >.< id just make sure the text would be short enough to fit. Heres a screenshot ( the red box is just to show the placement of the text area)

Thanks in advance for any help you guys can give much appreitiated.