3 and 2 column full screen (width & height) layouts (CSS)
The examples you found in alistapart.com are as complicated as they need to be, and every serious example that you can find about those layouts supports padding. You will find (and already found) a lot of good examples about it in the internet, just spend some time trying to understand them and you will see that they are not so complicated, in the end.
Anyway, I have a good demo layout similar to the second you are looking for, here: http://www.meiaweb.com/test/BMS_DM_NI/
Basically, the html is this:
<body>
<div id="head">
<h1>Title</h1>
</div>
<div id="main">
<div id="navigation">
<!-- navigation content -->
</div>
<div id="content">
<h2>Content Title</h2>
<p>
<!-- main content here -->
</p>
</div>
</div>
</body>
And the css is:
html {
overflow: auto;
height: 100%;
}
body {
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
width: 100%;
height: 100%;
line-height: 1.5em;
}
#head {
height: 20px;
background-color: #666;
color: #AAA;
padding: 20px 20px;
}
#navigation {
width: 210px;
padding: 20px 20px;
background: #efefef;
border: none;
border-right: solid 1px #AAA;
float: left;
overflow: auto;
}
#content {
margin-left: 250px;
padding: 20px 20px;
}
I think it's simple enough, and it works in all modern browsers.
Check this site out:
http://matthewjamestaylor.com/blog/perfect-stacked-columns.htm
Other layout examples from the above:
http://matthewjamestaylor.com/blog/perfect-2-column-left-menu.htm
http://matthewjamestaylor.com/blog/perfect-2-column-right-menu.htm
http://matthewjamestaylor.com/blog/perfect-3-column.htm