Layout Containers?

Layout Containers?

Hello All,
 
I've recently come in from Silverlight-land, and I'm investigating HTML5 (I'm formerly a script/html developer).  One of the issues of html/css that really bugged me was positioning and alignment, and I'm wondering what has been done (if anything) in this area.
 
I really like the look of jQueryUI.  It's obvious the designers behind this framework (dare I call it that?) know what they are doing.  I've grown accustomed to using layout containers in Silverlight and WPF.  I also see that GWT has concepts such as DockPanels and what not.
 
So I'm curious: is there something like this (layout containers) for HTML5?  Or are we still stuck with pixel-pushing CSS for our layout requirements?
 
Thank you for any guidance you can lend. :)
Michael