CSS fluid columns, fixed margins; the holy grail of holy grails

Question

Update & Summary

I feel obligated to make this question clearer, now that there is a bounty attached.

(Also, I\'m pretty sure this will be child\'s

Answer 1

An easier way to get the same effect is to let the content inside your columns create your gutters rather than applying margins/padding to the columns themselves. This can be done with fixed, fluid, elastic, etc. grids.

For example:

/* Gutters */
h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6,
p, ul, ol, blockquote,
hr, address, pre, object, fieldset
{
    margin-right: .75rem;
    margin-left: .75rem;
    padding-right: .75rem;
    padding-left: .75rem;
}

This also simplifies sizing your columns, nesting, and applying backgrounds to your lego pieces.