Left fixed column

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Pellentesque augue.Suspendisse consectetuer velit nec neque. Duis nec orci quis nulla egestas fermentum.Ut quis eros.

Right fixed column

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Pellentesque augue.Suspendisse consectetuer velit nec neque. Duis nec orci quis nulla egestas fermentum.Ut quis eros.

3 columns with fixed width sides

Fluid centre column

The idea here is to cut down on the number of elements used to achieve that "all the way to the bottom" columning that people often like.

The left side is a floated element. It is 230px wide. Notice how the background image is used here for the left side of body to avoid an unnecessary wrapper. This is a nod to good practice of the Ockam Rule for HTML: Try to avoid multiplying elements.

The right side is an absolutely positioned element. It is 230px wide.

There are all sorts of ways to adapt this sort of thing to your requirements.

The fixed width of the left, naturally, will have the downside of all such widths in allowing the text to break out at big enlargements. But this is something many authors think worth paying for to get the benefits of the middle content not being too squashed. The middle still retains a good measure of fluidity.

You can adapt this design to a fixed width right column.