Trouble with a fixed-fluid-fixed header in html document

Question

I'm trying to create a header bar at the top of a page on my website and I'm having trouble with the layout. Below is my desired result:

goal http://ambiguities.ca/images/goal.png

---

Here is the html:

<div id="page_wrapper">
    <div id="header_wrapper">
        <div id="banner_wrapper">
            <div id="header_banner">
                <div class="header_format">Site Name</div>
            </div>
        </div>
        <div id="user_management">
            <div class="header_format">Login / Register</div>
        </div>
        <div id="user_search">
            <form method="post" action="?search">
                    <input id="search_box" type="search" name="search" autocomplete="off" placeholder="Search..." />
            </form>
        </div>
    </div>
</div>

and the css:

body{
    margin:0;
    padding:0;
}

#page_wrapper {
    width: 100%;
    min-width: 800px;
}

#header_wrapper {
    width: 100%;
    height: 30px;
    background-color: #E6E6E6;
    border-bottom-color: #D8D8D8;
    border-bottom-style: solid;
    border-bottom-width: 1px;
}

#banner_wrapper {
    float: left;
    width: 100%;
}

#header_banner {
    margin: 0 180px 0 160px;
}

#user_management{
    float: left;
    height: 30px;
    width: 160px;
    margin-left: -100%;
    border-right-color: #D8D8D8;
    border-right-style: solid;
    border-right-width: 1px;
}

#user_search {
    padding-top: 2px;
    float: left;
    height: 30px;
    width: 180px;
    margin-left: -181px;
    border-left-color: #D8D8D8;
    border-left-style: solid;
    border-left-width: 1px;
}

#search_box {
    height: 26px;
    width: 176px;
    margin: 0;
}

.header_format {
    font-family: Verdana;
    font-size: 10px;
    text-align: center;
    line-height: 30px;
    vertical-align: middle;
}

I understand that this might not be the most efficient code. My real problem lies in the fact that in the user_search div when a padding of 2 at the top is added the search box becomes unusable by mouse click. If anyone can help me by pointing me in the right direction or showing me a better way of doing this it would be much appreciated.

Answer 1

First, remove the 'padding-top' value from '#user_search', use the following CSS:

#user_search {
    float: left;
    height: 30px;
    width: 180px;
    margin-left: -181px;
    border: 1px solid #D8D8D8;
}

Second, add a 'margin-top' value to '#search_box' and that should do the trick.

#search_box {
    height: 26px;
    width: 176px;
    margin: 5px 0 0 0;
}

Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/8Frnq/