cellophane

I'm redesigning a website for an organization I'm affiliated with. It looks like it was made in the early '90s, mainly because it was. I plan on making it more functional, but need to know what web language I should use to update it. Things I need/want my site to be able to do: 1. Obtain user's window dimensions and use this information to determine size and resolution of the header/logo, as well as the column widths, the entire document's length, text size, etc. 2. This is going to be a *very* complex design; I need to be able to tell the browser exactly where each element needs to go. The web language I use needs to be able to handle nearly-infinite absolutely-positioned elements. 3. I need all browsers to be able to display this page identically. Is anybody fluent in a web language that is capable of all of these things? Any suggestions?

So here's my problem: I have tried to script a complex webpage layout, and I apparently ended up overusing <DIV> tags and absolutely positioned elements, because after a certain point (I forget exactly how many... it was around 14-19), my browser would simply ignore my commands to absolutely position elements. (NOTE: I am using Firefox 2 and Firefox 3, but I need my website to look the same regardless of browser.) My questions: 1. Is there a maximum to the number of <DIV> tags one can use? 2. Is there a maximum amount of absolutely positioned elements one can use, and if so, how many? 3. Is there any way to get around either of these problems with a different type of scripting? I realize that using absolutely positioned elements for everything is bad scripting. However, floats simply do not work for what I'm trying to make... I've tried.