ok I know how to do Valid XHTML.. but it keeps saying I have invalid XHTML because I have a closing for </div> and </html> and </body> but no opening.. but I do have an opening... could this be because the footer and header are separte in my skins?

If you need to look at my coding let me know.

Well, I need to look at your markup. :D

edit: or maybe it's because you closed div, body and html and THEN included your footer, like this:

</div>
</body>
</html>
<?php include("footer.php") ?>