Web Design Tips

Using HTML Tables to Format Your Web Page

Designing a professional looking web site involves much more than simply displaying text between your body tags. In order to organize your page, you must use tables.

A table is an HTML element, also referred to as a "tag," and is used to display your web page content in an organized fashion.

Your page can be set up in columns and rows, you can display your table cells with or without a border, and you can even have a color or image patterned background.

Tables can be used in an unlimited number of ways including:

  • Organize your text and images
  • Display your text in a newspaper format
  • Add color and image backgrounds to text areas
  • Display charts

If you've never designed a web page, your first step will be to learn some basic HTML. You can find a beginner tutorial at NCSA Beginner's Guide to HTML: www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/Internet/WWW/HTMLPrimer.html.

When you begin designing your web page, you may want to consider placing all of your page content within a table. This will enable you to adjust your table's cellspacing to keep your text from displaying too close to the left border of your page. The higher the cellspacing value, the further away from the left border your text will be displayed. In addition, tables will enable you to display your page content in rows and columns rather than one big block of text.

Tables are created with the <TABLE></TABLE> tags. The <TABLE> tag begins the table code and the </TABLE> tag ends the table.

In addition to the table tags, you must also specify the number of rows and columns your table will contain. To do this, you must use the <TR> tag, which specifies the beginning of a table row and the <TD> tag, which will display your table data. The <TD> tag should be placed in front of any information you would like to be displayed within a cell. The </TD> tag will close the cell. All of these tags will be placed between the <TABLE> and </TABLE> tags.

Basic Table Structure:

<TABLE BORDER>
<TR>
<TD>Content</TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>

If you're just starting out, you may want to use a simple table format that will display your navigational links on the left or right hand side of the page, and your text and other information on the rest of the page -- in two columns.

When working with tables, make sure you create your tables with a border. This will enable you to see exactly where your borders are so that you can make sure everything is displaying properly. Once your page is complete, you can remove the border.

The following table code will create the basic layout for a web page with two columns. The first column will span 20% of the viewers' screen. The second will span 80% -- for a total of 100%.

<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING="10" CELLPADDING="10" WIDTH="100%">
<TR VALIGN="Top">
<TD WIDTH="20%"> </TD>
<TD WIDTH="80%"> </TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>

Notice the table width is set to 100%? This width will display the table across 100% of the viewers' screen. The cellspacing and cellpadding are set to 10 so that the text won't display right up against the left edge of the page, and there will be some space between the cells.

Once you have the basic page layout finished, you can begin adding your content. Your first step will be to delete the placeholder  . These placeholders were placed between the <TD> and </TD> tags to enable the borders to display -- empty table cells do not display within a web browser.

Your logo and navigational links should be displayed within the left column, which is the smaller of the two columns. All of your page content will be placed within the other column.

Keep in mind, the top left corner of your web page will not only be used to display your logo, but should also contain your most important keyword phrase. Make sure you include an image alt tag displaying your keyword phrase within your image code.

To spice up your page, you can create additional tables with color backgrounds and borders to divide your content into sections.

All of your text and additional tables will be placed between <TD WIDTH="80%"> </TD>. Simply replace the   text with your content and table codes.

For example, the following table can be used to display an introduction to your product, article, review or whatever you'd like.

Keep in mind, you don't want to place all of your information on your main page. The key is to include highlights of your site on your main page with a link to further information.

The example link at the bottom of the table can be used to direct your visitors to further information. You can use the colors of your choice and adjust the width to suit your needs.

<TABLE BORDER="0" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="2" ALIGN="Center" WIDTH=80%>
<TR>
<TD BGCOLOR="#919C9C"><P ALIGN=Center>
<FONT face="Verdana,Helvetica" SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFFFF"><B>Your Table Heading</B></FONT></TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD BGCOLOR="#000000" HEIGHT="2"></TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD BGCOLOR="#CCCCCC"><P ALIGN=Left>your text here</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD BGCOLOR="#000000" HEIGHT="2"></TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD BGCOLOR="#919C9C"><P ALIGN=Center>
<FONT face="Verdana,Helvetica" SIZE="2"
COLOR="#FFFFFF"><B>Link to further
info</B></FONT></TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>

Keep in mind, when displaying text within each table cell, to specify a specific font, you must use a font tag within each table cell.

Once you complete your web page, make sure you remove your table border. That's all there is to it.

If you're not confident in your ability to design a professional looking web site, Template Monster offers a large variety of highly professional site templates. www.templatemonster.com.

If you're in need of a professional logo, Gotlogos will design a beautiful logo for your site for only $25. www.gotlogos.com.

Take your time and test different table designs. Try adding new rows and columns and change the background and border colors. The more you practice, the better you will become.

Gook luck with your new site!

Copyright Shelley Lowery

About the Author:

Shelley Lowery is the author of the acclaimed web design course, Web Design Mastery. www.webdesignmastery.com And, Ebook Starter - Give Your Ebooks the look and feel of a REAL book. www.ebookstarter.com Visit Web-Source.net to sign up for a complimentary subscription to Etips and receive a copy of the acclaimed ebook, "Killer Internet Marketing Strategies." www.web-source.net

See more from Web Design


Other Pages You Might Enjoy...

The Meissen Porcelain Manufactory
For more than 300 years the Meissen Porcelain Manufactory has been a central figure in European porcelain. It was at Meissen that the first true hard-paste porcelain was manufactured outside of China, and the story of that accomplishment has the high drama of fiction - all the more intriguing because it is true.

Pirated Glassware that Collectors Want to Own
The 1996 discovery of what is believed to be the wreckage of Blackbeard’s ship Queen Anne’s Revenge, is providing historians and collectors new information about the fragile and transparent objects that came onto the North American Continent before arrival of the first piece of cut glass.

Collecting Antique Furniture
Of all the collectible antiques, the broad category of furniture is perhaps the most widely held and most satisfying. Frequently handed down through generations, the various chairs, tables, cabinets and other pieces are often in use, adding character and constancy to our daily lives. This guide includes an overview of the significant styles and historical periods, and other important information for collectors.

Collecting Antique Clocks and Watches
Information for collectors of antique clocks and watches. Includes a history of clock and watchmaking, an overview of styles, and important terminology.

Collecting Antique Jewelry
Embodying the wealth and treasure of bygone days, the antique jewelry pieces available today include some of the world's most valuable artifacts. Includes a history of jewelry making, an overview of the major historical periods, and a glossary of antique jewelry terminology.

Javascript Chatterbot Workshop
Home of the Do It Yourself Chatterbot Project. Has a ready to go chatterbot shell and full instructions on how to program it.

Tips for Improving Website Navigation
A business often has more than one target audience it wants to reach with its website. Different customers mean different sales appeals and a homepage needs to be able to direct visitor traffic to go to the right places to get information or make a sale.

Choosing the Right Color for Your Web Site
When people build a web site for their business (or hire a web design company to make it for them), not much thought is put into deciding what color their web site will be as most would rather focus on more important tasks like creating content, web site optimization and promotion. Most simply choose the most web-friendly colors, others use their company’s logo as base while some decide to just use their favorite color.

Designing A Website That Loads Quickly
The amount of time it takes for your website to load onto the visitor's screen is a major influence on traffic to your site. Research has shown that most internet users will leave your website if it takes more than 10 seconds to load and some potential guests will exit even faster. A quick loading website is vitally important to the success of your site.

London Is Great Destination for Music Fans
London's nightlife makes it a top destination for rock fans and pop music historians. From the crosswalk at Abbey Road to the venerable Royal Albert Hall, Great Britain is the place to go to see some of pop culture's most significant landmarks.

Expert Cautions Against Reverse Mortgages
Aging baby boomers are being aggressively marketed for long-term care insurance funded by reverse mortgages. Lawyer Frank Darras says beware. Betting your house on an insurance policy can backfire and leave you with nothing, he says.

A Longest Common Substring Function for Javascript
Here is a down and dirty Javascript function that returns the longest substring shared by two string variables.

Beginning at the Beginning - File Systems and Plain Text Files
Getting up and running with HTML, Javascript, and a host of other technologies requires an understanding of file systems and text editing tools. This page is for people who need to come up-to-speed on the basics before moving on to introductory markup and coding.

HTML For the Absolute Beginner
The intent of this tutorial is to provide a basic introduction to making web pages for the person who has never studied HTML before. Once one has worked through this material they should be able to create a bare bones HTML file and be ready to move on to learning to build web pages.




The MiFio Network

Visit cache.MiFio.com for more pages about business, technology, programming, home, travel and more.

Visit www.MiFio.com the website dedicated to antiques and collectibles.