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Using Tables

"Use Tables to Align Contents. Nice, evenly spaced rows and columns of information look great and are easy to read - although not so easy to create! Use tables with invisible borders to ensure that the information is aligned correctly on the page." (1)

"Tables are exceedingly useful tools when building a web page. With tables, it is easy to line up items on the page in rows and columns, giving the page the layout you want. Many two-column and three column lists on web pages are actually contained in tables. You may or may not realize this because the outlines of the table can be made invisible. Tables are also very useful for aligning images on a page." (1, page 140)

If you are inexperienced with tables, it is HIGHLY recommended that you take some time to play around and experiment with them! Tables work pretty much the same in MS Word as in FrontPage, and presumably other web publishing software.

In a table, you can delete and merge cells, add/delete rows and columns, change cell background colors, and all kinds of neat things. Once you get somewhat proficient with tables, you'll wonder what you did without them!

Tables are used extensively in this web site. Every page heading in yellow is a one-cell table; some are combined with more cells depending on the page, as will be shown.

The above page heading looks like this with the table border (outline) made visible:

Using Tables

Tables Example 1: See a copy of this site's home page with its table borders made visible (5 cells)

Tables Example 2: See a copy of the home page of a site the author created for his local Cub Scout Pack (www.cubpack54.com), as it appears on the Internet

Tables Example 3: See a copy of the home page of the site in Example 2, with table borders made visible

The graphics and other elements in this site's pages and the Cub Pack 54 web site home page could not have been positioned accurately without using tables!

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