Using Tables

Tables have become synonymous with layout of web pages over the past years. To undertand why this might be so, you need to remember that because people’s screen sizes, resolutions, browsers and PCs vary, so too does their page layout. So where you have designed a visually stunning page with elements well co-ordinated, a viewer using a different resolution could in fact be looking at a jumble.

Tables have served to rescue this situation by acting as "containers" for your layout. For example, if you designed your page within a table of width 600 pixels, you can be confident that this layout will transfer to all your visitors.

Note: Frustratingly, inconsistencies like different browsers using different "margins" and so forth guarantees some glitches even while using tables.

Warning: 1999 sees the beginning of using CSS (cascading style sheets) to implement positioning and page layout rather than using the traditional approach of tables. Using tables can create problems for newer devices starting to be used to view web pages such as Web T.V. and PDAs. However at the present time, for designing school web sites, tables remain the most straightforward method of achieving consistent page layout.