Header Graphics Organization Question

[TheAllusionist]

I have a small problem with my header/logo layout. I have a background image that starts with plain white on the left and gradiates to spackled paint towards the right, I then have a logo that has a white background super-imposed over it aligned to the left. In addition I had a banner system floating over the background on the right, that MOD currently doesn't work for 3.5 but I am waiting for a work around. I cannot seem to get the background image to fill the header area width wise with the complete image. Currently I have a very wide version for people viewing at 1600 wide resolution, but if a lower resolution is used only a portion of the image is showing and it is a very slight gradiation and not very appealing.

I am not a web designer, so I do everything by trial and error and the commands like width="100%" do not seem to work, so I am thinking the overall table format is superseding my commands. I would like the image to stretch or squish depending on the screen resolution to show the whole header background. I may be making things more difficult than it needs to be with my header code. I will post a portion of my header code below, maybe someone can point me in the right direction. I thank you for your time in advance.

Portion of Template Header:

$spacer_open
<table class="shadow" width="$stylevar[outertablewidth]" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" align="center">
<tr><td>
<!-- logo -->
<a name="top"></a>
<table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" align="right">
<tr>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="$stylevar[outertablewidth] align="right" background="http://www.mysite.com/forums/images/OrangeJuice/misc/3DAllusionsBkGrnd.jpg"
<tr>
<td>
<a href="http://www.mysite.com/forums/portal.php"> <img border="0" img src="http://www.3dallusions.com/forums/images/OrangeJuice/misc/3DAllusionsLogo.jpg" width="292"

height="140"></td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>
<p align="right">
$banner</td>
</tr>
</table> </td>

</tr>
</table>
<!-- /logo -->
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</table>