About HTML Tables
HTML tables offer unsurpassed control over the positioning of text and objects on the Web pages you create. You can create tables comprised of columns and rows and fill in the intersecting cells with text and graphic elements for a wide range of effects:
- Create simple tables to present data in a spreadsheet-like format (see Figure 1).
- Create more complex tables to reproduce information in familiar formats (see Figure 2).
- Use tables to lay out page components much as you would with a page layout application (see Figure 3).
While creating tables by typing raw HTML commands is tedious, time-consuming, and difficult, creating tables--even complex nested tables--is easy with PageMill. This chapter will show you how.
Tip
Although most graphic Web browsers recognize and properly interpret the HTML codes for tables, some don't. In addition, no text browser displays table information properly. Keep this in mind when determining how to present information that may be viewed with a variety of browsers. You may prefer using the Preformatted format, which I discuss in Chapter 4.
Figure 1: A basic table like this one can present information in a spreadsheet-like format.
Figure 2: Tables can also be used to recreate familiar objects, like this calendar.
Figure 3: With a little imagination--and some borderless, nested tables like these-- you can lay out page components any way you like.
