We establish the existence
and uniqueness of solutions to the Dirichlet problem for the cmc surface equation,
including the minimal one, for zero boundary data, in certain domains of the
plane. We obtain results that characterize the sphere and cmc graphs among
compact embedded cmc surfaces with planar boundary satisfying certain
geometric conditions. We also find conditions that imply that a compact
embedded cmc surface which is a graph near the boundary is indeed a global
graph.