Max-Width in All Browsers

I have been doing some research on the max-width property in CSS2 lately. Basically, from my experience it doesn't work in IE or Safari. Given that the great majority of people browsing the internet are using IE, the max-width property is basically useless until Microsoft decides to start complying with the latest standards.

I have come across one interesting idea (here) for setting the maximum width in IE, but this doesn't seem to be compliant with the latest CSS standards, and it doesn't seem to work in Safari. Does anyone know of any way to set the maximum width of a table or other element in such a way that it will work in all browsers?

The table has a width element that you can set by percentage. Set the table to 100% and your margin elements in the body tag to zero and you should be in business.

As for 'other elements', I would need a list of specifics.

How will that limit the table to a maximum width? I have the width set to 100%, so it resizes with the browser window. I don't want it to ever get larger than 900px though. How can I limit it to 900px while allowing it to resize at any size smaller than that?

You cannot limit the table to a maximum width without simply specifying a static width, ie: 500px. In that case it will always be 500 px regardless of anything else.

100% means just that - your design will stretch to fill the browser window.

What you're asking ( having a maximum width and stretching below that) is possible, but would require some hefty Javascript or other solution that would probably not be compatible with most browsers.

That's what I figured. CSS2 has a handy max-width variable, but most browsers don't recognize it.