I am just starting out learning about web design and am blown away by css design... I finally understand what the big deal is. I am working on a site that I hope someone can give me some direction on.

Picture an etch-a-sketch in the background of the page. I want the content to display on the screen of the etch-a-sketch only; and depending on what navigational link is selected, the content display changes on the screen only. I was reading HTML dog and it stated in that tutorial that I should not use tables... I am not sure how to get going with this project so far as the content displaying only where I want it to. If you can, can someone give me some direction on how to start using the little css I have learned so far to get this project started? I would be appreciative of any help you can pass along.