I'm teaching myself html & css by constructing a basic wee site (free hosting, a few directories, nothing too complicated) and I was interested in putting a box (for a blog/"word of the day" style feature) in the top right hand corner of the main page, but I cannot figure out a way to do this. I would appreciate it greatly if someone could provide a basic framework that I could work around for constructing this feature.
Also, I would appreciate a recommendation for an HTML reference book that is available in the UK.
Don't learn HTML, learn BBCode
Google is a great place to start.
Make a div with a specific id (<div id='box'>lol</div>), then in the CSS specify for its id (#box { } ) its width in pixels and have it float: right. Google 'float: right' (or left) for many usage examples. You'll figure it out better by experimenting.
http://www.htmldog.com/ is a great reference for beginners. If you insist on dead trees, make sure the book you learn from is very recent. Before ~2001 all HTML was shit and from 2002~2005 standardistas threw everything out to do it a 'cleaner' way, sometimes going way too far about it.
Also, get the web developper extension for firefox, it lets you edit CSS live so it's easy to experiment, and try Firebug if you can already code in some language, it will really help you figure out how html and CSS are interconnected (and JS if you want to learn it later on).
Don't be seduced by w3schools. htmldog > w3schools