Need help with strategy / positioning of horizontal menu buttons

Question

I have a preexisting template setup for a website.  In this template there is a div called actualcontent where data for the pages goes.  The navigation for the site lives to the left of the actualcontent div.  However, now I am at a point that I need to implement an additional navigation method for a small subset of the site.  I would like to insert about 7 links across the top of the actualcontent div that send people to other pages in the site.  I would like the link that is selected to have its rectangle background a different color than the rest of the links that are shown horizontally across the top.  How can this be done?  Would I use a div for each link?  How could I get them lined up at the same vertical height but spread horizontally across the top of the actualcontent div? 
Positioning sometimes throws me for a loop.  What type of positioning would I use?  Would I use div's at all?  Any help or links to tutorials is appreciated.

Answer 1

Without seeing what you have so far, I'm just tossing out a basic list menu that could go between your #header and #actualContent divisions.
CSS:
/**Top Menu Navbar**/
#navlist {
     background-color:#CCCCFF;
     padding: 5px;
     margin-left: 0;
     font: bold 12px Verdana, sans-serif;
#navlist li {
     list-style: none;
     margin: 0;
     border-top: 1px solid gray;
     display: inline;}
#navlist li a {
     padding: 0.25em 0.5em 0.25em 0.75em;
     border-left: 1em solid #AAB;
     background: #CCD;
     text-decoration: none;}
#navlist li a:link { color: #448; }
#navlist li a:visited { color: #667; }
#navlist li a:hover {
     border-color: #9933FF;
     color: #000;
     background-color:#D0E8FF}
HTML:
<!--Top Menu Navbar-->
<ul id="navlist">
     <li><a href="#">Skip to Content</a></li>
     <li><a href="#">Item 1</a></li>
     <li><a href="#">Item 2</a></li>
     <li><a href="#">Item 3</a></li>
     <li><a href="#">Item 4</a></li>
</ul> <!--end navlist -->
Nancy O.
Alt-Web Design & Publishing
Web | Graphics |  Print | Media Specialists
www.alt-web.com/
www.twitter.com/altweb
HTML Validator - http://validator.w3.org
CSS Validator - http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/
Tutorials  - http://w3schools.com/