background image keeps repeating

Well, your image is 480px by 640px, so you are going to have to repeat or make it quite a bit larger. Even if you make it larger (wider) to, say, 1600px, then you will still need to do something to compensate for height…either repeat-y and/or set a background color to try and blend the image and background. But, if you don’t want it to repeat, just change your css under #main from repeat to no-repeat, or repeat-x, etc.

how much larger? why would I need to compensate for height? I have tried the repeat-y and repeat-x and no-repeat but nothing looks good or I have black for a background on some parts.

how much larger?

That depends…how much screen area your image covers on my computer depends on the size of your image and the resolution of my monitor. Do you think someone will be viewing your site with a screen resolution higher than 1600px wide? If so, make the image wider…or, better yet, create a good, small, tiling image and set it to repeat…that way you don’t have to be concerned about screen resolutions.

why would I need to compensate for height?

See my previous answer and think of height…..same concept…..

hmmm… I guess its the best I can get it. now I gotta figure out how to get the font colors and the white footer area to change.