Surrounding Box For Each Post

Few problems with your code…

1. ID’s have to be unique. That is, if you have a <div id='statbar'..., it must be the only “statbar” on the page. If you want to have more than one, then it should be a CLASS instead. So anything inside the loop needs to be a CLASS, not an ID. The only thing this really changes is that instead of using #statbar in your CSS file, you use .statbar instead.

2. Your “loop” begins at the “while” statement and ends at the “endwhile” statement. Any DIVs that you open in the loop MUST be closed in that loop as well. So your border and content2 DIVs need to be closed before the endwhile line.

3. The “else” block is solely for what happens when there are no posts to display at all. Anything between the “else” and the “endif” needs to be self contained. If you open a div, you close it in that same block.

4. Finally, anything you open outside the loop needs to be closed outside the loop.

That’s really your main problem. You’re not understanding where the loop is running, exactly. It’s not your fault, I find the “endwhile” and “endif” terminology confusing as well. I always write my loops using more sensible {} marks.

Try something more like this:
<div id="contenttable">
<?php if (have_posts()) { ?>
<?php while (have_posts()) {
the_post();
?>
<div class="topbar"></div>
<div class="statbar><?php the_ID(); ?>">
<span class="storytitle">
<a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to <?php the_title(); ?>">
<?php the_title(); ?>
</a>
</span>
<?php the_time('F jS, Y') ?> by <?php the_author() ?>
</div>
<div class="border">
<div class="content2">
<?php the_content('Read the rest of this entry &raquo;'); ?>
</div>
</div>
<?php } // end while loop ?>
<p align="center">
<?php next_posts_link('&laquo; Previous Entries') ?> <?php previous_posts_link('Next Entries &raquo;') ?>
</p>
<?php } // end if statement
else // begin the else block
{
?>
<h2 align="center">Not Found</h2>
<p align="center">Sorry, but you are looking for something that isn't here.</p>
<?php } // end the else block ?>
</div>

I did change your loop ID’s to classes, so you’ll want to make some minor CSS mods to make those work.