CHAPTER 4

Tutorial: Creating a Table based 

Page Layout

4

This tutorial explains how to create a table based page layout in 

Macromedia Dreamweaver 8. A page layout determines how your page will 

appear in the browser, showing, for example, the placement of menus, 

images, and Macromedia Flash content.

Tables are a powerful tool for presenting tabular data and for laying out 

text and graphics on an HTML page. You can use tables to create your 

layout quickly and easily. In this tutorial you'll create a number of tables in 

a new Dreamweaver document. The rows and cells of the tables effectively 

act as container boxes for the content you'll add later.

In this tutorial, you will complete the following tasks:

Examine the design comp  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Create and save a new page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Insert tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Set table properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Insert an image placeholder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Add color to the page  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Examine the design comp

Typically, you don't begin building a website by opening Dreamweaver and 

laying out pages right away. The first steps to creating a website begin on a 

piece of paper, or in a graphics editing application like Macromedia 

Fireworks. Graphic designers usually sketch out a piece of comprehensive 

artwork (also known as a  comp ) for the website in order to show it to the 

client and make sure that the initial ideas for the site meet with their 

client's approval.

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