I barely code anything for myself. Drop shadow on pattern background = nightmare. Unfortunately lots of clients love them, so I'm often having to PNGfix for compatibility. If it's a static image, the built in filter will do the trick... if it requires repeating or positioning, then the fix is required.

Not sure what you mean with rounded corners.

Matte looks rubbish on a pattern bg. If it's a solid background, it doesn't need alpha transparency anyway, so it would be a gif, png8 or jpg.

display:inline, height:1%, position:relative, wrapping inputs in divs, not being able to double class, no native :hover support, f*** where does the list of IE hacks and handicaps end? (and now we have IE8 to check against also, great). Tons of rubbish is done purely because IE requires it, just because you don't * html or conditional comment it doesn't mean it's not a hack.

Suckerfish, another example of yet another IE hack...

If I ever code a site that just WORKS in IE straight away, I'm honestly surprised... it just doesn't happen. There's always some sort of quirk I have to add in order to make IE behave as it should.

For example off your site, you don't have overflow:auto so IE will have a stupid scrollbar whereas say FF won't...

I understand the frustrations of beginners, the hardest part they always have is compatibility.