Tables and text

Question

I'm sure the anwers to these questions are obvious but I
can't seem to get it right:
1. I have two tables on a page, one with 2 columns, the
second one below with 3 columns. I have the same size paragraph
text and font in each table, but when I view the page online, they
are completely different sizes. Is this normal, and how do I make
them the same?
2. Some text is bold when viewed online, although not bold on
my local file.
3. I have some text outside the table, immediately below it,
aligned left like the table. With my previous software (Adobe
Pagemill) this wasn't a problem, but in DW the text moves around
online, sometimes appearing underneath or alongside the table -
although it looks OK when viewed locally.
4. I tried to cure this by creating an extra row in the table
to put this text in, but now there is huge gap above it and you
have to scroll down massively past empty space to reach the text
which has moved way down - ie: the bottom row of the table has
expanded. It still looks OK when viewed locally.
5. What is the equivalent of a placeholder in DW? The text
mentioned above includes my e-mail address in a placeholder, which
shows up OK online but is invisible at a local level.

Answer 1

Tim Richards posted in macromedia.dreamweaver:
> OK, I've run my URL through the validator, and it tells
me the
> Document Type Definition is missing, and I need to
insert this at
> the top of my code before attempting to fix any other
errors.
>
> How do I know what type of HTML DW is using, and what
'public
> identifier' to use? Shouldn't DW insert the DTD
automatically?
(Assuming DW CS3)
For new pages, it does. For older pages, you can use the menu
File->Convert->(select a DOCTYPE) to help. While you
learn HTML, I
suggest HTML 4.01 Transitional. Strict would be better if
you're
willing to commit to learning HTML and CSS.
To be honest, Tim, I think that page is FUBAR. Consider
rebuilding it
from the gound up. Any attempt to convert that odd Pagemill
code to
legitimate HTML might cost more time/money than starting
over. I gave
it an honest effort, trying to use DW's clean up tools,
conversion
tools, etc. and got
very frustrated. Starting over was much
easier.
Try creating a new page, then copy the text from the old page
into
Notepad (or, better, any non-Microsoft text editor), then
copy/paste
from there into DW's Design pane. Add the Bold <strong>
as needed. Use
header tags (<h1>, <h2>, <h3>) wisely, as a
newspaper or magazine
layout would. Do not use <hn> for emphasis. Try to
avoid all those
really old inline <font> tags and other 20th century
technology.
If you use an external style sheet, you can migrate the rest
of the
site over to the 21st century and, eventually, have a site
that will be
much easier to customize by simply changing the rules in the
style
sheet. Check out the source for any modern site and you
should notice
the difference.
HTH
Mark A. Boyd
Keep-On-Learnin' :)
Cheers