using HTML or CSS how do i make a table or frame type thing which whill hold all my information. Similar to how a log of blogs look if you know what i mean!

I want to have a patterned background, and then a big, centered frame that goes from the very top to the very bottom of my page will basically contain all elements of my website.

in fact i just noticed its like THIS website! everything is bunched together in the center in a neat box.. how can i do this!!
that site is fairly messy and i cant find any code in it at all... anyone got a better one?