Questions about Trident

I’ve got a test version of Trident up at:
https://jimlynch.com/wordpresstest
I’ve run into some snags though. Here are my questions:
1. In Firefox/Mozilla if you put your cursor over a link on the left you get weird flashing right above the google ad.
2. The Google search box seems just a bit too far over, it’s screwing up the border. Any idea how to fix that in the CSS? (included below)
3. The banner, no matter how big I make it, will not stretch all the way to the end of the masthead. It’s stuck. There must be a setting there somewhere but I’ll be damned if I know what it is.
4. How do I get rid of that white text on top of the banner and still have the banner itself be clickable? I could do this with the Dots template but Trident is different somehow, I’m not sure how to do it.
Thanks in advance if you can help. Here is the CSS:
/* This CSS has been modified from the default WordPress install by Root //atthe404.com/blog*/
/*The CSS also requires a modified index.php and a small background graphic. Full installation
instructions (which are hopefully very simple) can be found on the blog. */
/* Index php and the CSS are adapted from WordPress 1.2 Mingus. Original CSS by Dave Shea
|| https://mezzoblue.com with modifications by Matthew Mullenweg || https://photomatt.net
This is just a basic layout, with only the bare minimum defined.Please tweak this and make
it your own. :)*/
/* ——————– Body and Page Layout ———————– */
body {
background: #e8e8d1;
font-family: ‘Lucida Grande’, ‘Lucida Sans Unicode’, Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif;
font-size: 14px;
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
text-align: center; /* IE 5.5 hack */
}
#rap {
width: 797px;
background: #ffffff url(‘wp-images/bg1.gif’) repeat-y left;
margin: auto;
margin-top: 20px;
margin-bottom: 20px;
border: 1px solid #565;
border-bottom: 0;
text-align: left; /* IE 5.5 hack part II */
}
#container {
background: transparent url(‘wp-images/bg1.gif’) repeat-y right;
}
#masthead {
background: url(/banner1.gif) no-repeat;
height: 98px;
font: normal 100% ‘Lucida Grande’, ‘Lucida Sans Unicode’, Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif;
letter-spacing: 0.2em;
margin: 0;
padding: 0 10px 0 60px;
border-bottom: 1px solid #565;
}
#masthead h1 {
font-size: 18pt;
}
#main {
float: left;
height: 100%;
/* original width: 645px; */
width: 639px;
}
#content {
float: right;
/* original width: width: 485px; */
width: 479px;
}
#menu {
float: left;
width: 150px;
}
#rmenu {
float: right;
/* original width: 150px; */
width: 151px;
}
.clearer {
clear: both;
height: 0;
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
}
#footer {
margin-bottom: 0;
}
/* ——————— WordPress Stuff ———————– */
a {
color: #675;
}
a img {
border: none;
}
a:visited {
color: #342;
}
a:hover {
color: #9a8;
}
acronym, abbr {
border-bottom: 1px dashed #333;
}
acronym, abbr, span.caps {
cursor: help;
font-size: 90%;
letter-spacing: .07em;
}
blockquote {
border-left: 5px solid #ccc;
margin-left: 1.5em;
padding-left: 5px;
}
cite {
font-size: 90%;
font-style: normal;
}
#header a {
color: #fff;
text-decoration: none;
}
#header a:hover {
text-decoration: underline;
}
h1 {
margin: 0;
padding: 20px;
text-align: center;
}
h2 {
border-bottom: 1px dotted #ccc;
font: 100% ‘Lucida Grande’, ‘Lucida Sans Unicode’, Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif;
letter-spacing: 0.2em;
margin: 15px 20px 0 30px;
padding-bottom: 2px;
}
h3 {
border-bottom: dotted 1px #eee;
font: bold 140% ‘Lucida Grande’, ‘Lucida Sans Unicode’, Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, Geneva,
sans-serif;
margin-top: 0;
padding-bottom: 0;
}
h3 a:hover {
color: #032;
}
ol#comments li p {
font-size: 100%;
}
p, li, .feedback {
font: 90%/* /175% */ ‘Lucida Grande’, ‘Lucida Sans Unicode’, Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, Geneva,
sans-serif;
letter-spacing: -1px;
}
td font {
font-size: 75%;
}
/* —————— Classes used by the_meta() ————–*/
ul.post-meta {
list-style: none;
}
ul.post-meta span.post-meta-key {
font-weight: bold;
}
.credit {
background: #90a090;
border-top: double 3px #aba;
color: #fff;
font-size: 11px;
margin: 10px 0 0 0;
padding: 3px;
text-align: center;
}
.credit a:link, .credit a:hover {
color: #fff;
}
.feedback {
color: #ccc;
text-align: right;
clear: both;
margin-right: 30px;
font-size: .75em;
}
.meta {
font-size: .75em;
}
.meta li, ul.post-meta li {
display: inline;
}
.meta ul {
display: inline;
list-style: none;
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
}
.meta, .meta a {
color: #808080;
font-weight: normal;
letter-spacing: 0;
}
.post {
margin-top: 5px;
margin-right: 15px;
margin-left: 15px;
}
.storytitle {
margin-top: 10px;
margin-bottom: 2px;
}
.storytitle a {
text-decoration: none;
}
#commentform #name, #commentform #email, #commentform #url, #commentform textarea {
background: #fff;
border: 1px solid #333;
padding: .2em;
}
#commentform textarea {
width: 100%;
}
#commentlist li ul {
border-left: 1px solid #ddd;
font-size: 110%;
list-style-type: none;
}
/* —————-All menu styling except #menu itself (in layout above) ——— */
#menu form {
margin: 0 0 0 13px;
}
#menu input#s {
width: 80%;
background: #eee;
border: 1px solid #999;
color: #000;
}
#menu ul {
color: #777;
font-weight: bold;
list-style: none;
margin: 0;
padding-left: 3px;
text-transform: none;
}
#menu ul li {
font: normal 110% ‘Lucida Grande’, ‘Lucida Sans Unicode’, Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, Geneva,
sans-serif;
letter-spacing: 0.1em;
margin-top: 10px;
padding-bottom: 2px; /*border-bottom: dotted 1px #ccc;*/
}
#menu ul ul {
font-variant: normal;
font-weight: normal;
line-height: 100%;
list-style: none;
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
text-align: left;
}
#menu ul ul li {
border: 0;
font: normal normal 70%/* /115%*/ ‘Lucida Grande’, ‘Lucida Sans Unicode’, Verdana, sans-serif;
letter-spacing: 0;
margin-top: 0;
padding: 0;
padding-left: 12px;
}
#menu ul ul li a {
color: #444444;
text-decoration: none;
}
#menu ul ul li a:hover {
border-bottom: 1px solid #809080;
}
#menu ul ul ul.children {
font-size: 142%;
padding-left: 4px;
}
#menu table {
position: relative;
left: -20px;
}
#menu table tr {
left: 0;
}
#menu table tr td {
left: 0;
}
#menu table tr td table{
left: 0;
}
/* ————————- Right Menu styling ———————*/
#rmenu form {
margin: 0 0 0 13px;
}
#rmenu input#s {
width: 80%;
background: #eee;
border: 1px solid #999;
color: #000;
}
#rmenu ul {
color: #777;
font-weight: bold;
list-style: none;
margin: 0;
padding-left: 3px;
text-transform: none;
}
#rmenu ul li {
font: normal 110% ‘Lucida Grande’, ‘Lucida Sans Unicode’, Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, Geneva,
sans-serif;
letter-spacing: 0.1em;
margin-top: 10px;
padding-bottom: 2px; /*border-bottom: dotted 1px #ccc;*/
}
#rmenu ul ul {
font-variant: normal;
font-weight: normal;
line-height: 100%;
list-style: none;
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
text-align: left;
}
#rmenu ul ul li {
border: 0;
font: normal normal 70%/* /115% */ ‘Lucida Grande’, ‘Lucida Sans Unicode’, Verdana, Tahoma, Arial,
Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif;
letter-spacing: 0;
margin-top: 0;
padding: 0;
padding-left: 12px;
}
#rmenu ul ul li a {
color: #444444;
text-decoration: none;
}
#rmenu ul ul li a:hover {
border-bottom: 1px solid #809080;
}
#rmenu ul ul ul.children {
font-size: 142%;
padding-left: 4px;
}
/* ———————— WP Calendar styling ———————*/
#wp-calendar caption {
font: bold 12px ‘Lucida Grande’, ‘Lucida Sans Unicode’, Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, Geneva,
sans-serif;
}
#wp-calendar th {
font: normal 10px ‘Lucida Grande’, ‘Lucida Sans Unicode’, Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, Geneva,
sans-serif;
color: #4B5340;
padding: 2px;
text-align: center;
}
#wp-calendar tbody td {
font: normal 10px ‘Lucida Grande’, ‘Lucida Sans Unicode’, Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, Geneva,
sans-serif;
padding: 1px;
text-align: right;
}
/* ———————— Special styling ———————*/