Formatting Basics: Tables for Page Layouts

If you ever used tables in a web document and manually edited the code for those tables, you know complex tables can be challenging. The good news is that Dreamweaver makes table creation and editing very easy.

Layout view

The new layout view feature in Dreamweaver makes it easier than ever to construct layout tables and cells for your web pages. Simply select the Layout tab of the Objects Palette and toggle to Layout view to use icons to draw layout tables and table cells directly on the screen, automatically creating the page layout as you go.

To draw a layout table:

1. Make sure you are in Layout view, then click the Draw Layout Table button in the Layout category of the Objects panel. The mouse pointer will change to a plus sign (+).
   
   
2. Position the mouse pointer on the page, then click and drag your mouse to create the layout table. If it is the first table you have drawn on the page, it will automatically be positioned at the top left corner of your page. To create a number of tables without clicking the layout table button each time, hold down the Control (Windows) or Command (Mac) key.

The table will appear outlined in green on your page.

To draw a layout cell:

1. Make sure you are in Layout view, then click the Draw Layout Cell button in the Layout category of the Objects panel. The mouse pointer will change to a plus sign (+).
2. Position the mouse pointer where you want to start the cell on the page, then drag to create the layout cell. To create a number of cells without clicking the layout cell button each time, hold down the Control (Windows) or Command (Macintosh) key.

The cell will appear outlined in blue on your page.