Tables are rectangular boundaries made up of smaller rectangles called cells, used to control content placement on web pages.

Why do I need tables?
Using tables to position content is the only cross browser compatible method we have at this time. Absolute positioning and layers are not compatible alternatives, yet. Using them will cause the content of your page to be scrambled in some major browsers.

Cell padding, cell spacing and rows
Cell padding is space between the cell wall and the content within the cell. Cell spacing is the space between cells .A row is a line of horizontal table cells. A row may have one cell or many. The widths of cells in each row plus any cell spaces must equal and never exceed the width of the table in which they reside. It is important to figure the math for each row of cells in a table. For instance, if a table is 600 pixels wide, the width of the cells and cell spaces, when added together, must not exceed 600 pixels. A row will be as tall as the tallest cell in the row.

What is a column?
A column is a line of vertical table cells. A column may have one cell or many. A column will be as wide as the widest cell in the column.

What is table stacking and nested tables
That is when tables are stacked one above the other. For instance, you may have a table for the header of your site, a table for the body, and a table for the footer. Nested tables are tables within tables. This can work well if used sparingly.

Design Issues

How do I get my page to fill the whole monitor screen and how do I get my page to shrink and expand with different resolutions?
This is what is commonly referred to as liquid design. Table widths are percentages rather than pixels. A table set 100% wide will fill the monitor screen width regardless of resolution. A table set 90% wide will fill 90% of the width of the space, etc. This applies to any space wherein a table resides, whether it be a web page or another table's cell (nesting). Some of our templates are 100%, stretch designs.

How wide can I make my site so it works well at 800x600?
You should not exceed table widths of 777 pixels to accommodate a resolution of 800x600. By the way, most Internet visitors have their monitors set at 800x600. We allow for the edges of the browser and the scroll bar.