Search w3schools.com:

SHARE THIS PAGE

HTML Layouts

Web page layout is very important to make your website look good.

Design your webpage layout very carefully.

Examples

Try it Yourself - Examples

Web page layout using <div> elements
How to add layout using <div> elements.

Web page layout using <table> elements
How to add layout using <table> elements.

Website Layouts

Most websites have put their content in multiple columns (formatted like a magazine or newspaper).

Multiple columns are created by using <div> or <table> elements. CSS are used to position elements, or to create backgrounds or colorful look for the pages.

lamp Even though it is possible to create nice layouts with HTML tables, tables were designed for presenting tabular data - NOT as a layout tool!

HTML Layouts - Using <div> Elements

The div element is a block level element used for grouping HTML elements.

The following example uses five div elements to create a multiple column layout, creating the same result as in the previous example:

Example

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>

<div id="container" style="width:500px">

<div id="header" style="background-color:#FFA500;">
<h1 style="margin-bottom:0;">Main Title of Web Page</h1></div>

<div id="menu" style="background-color:#FFD700;height:200px;width:100px;float:left;">
<b>Menu</b><br>
HTML<br>
CSS<br>
JavaScript</div>

<div id="content" style="background-color:#EEEEEE;height:200px;width:400px;float:left;">
Content goes here</div>

<div id="footer" style="background-color:#FFA500;clear:both;text-align:center;">
Copyright © W3Schools.com</div>

</div>

</body>
</html>

Try it yourself »

The HTML code above will produce the following result:

Main Title of Web Page

Menu
HTML
CSS
JavaScript
Content goes here
Copyright © W3Schools.com

HTML Layouts - Using Tables

A simple way of creating layouts is by using the HTML <table> tag.

Multiple columns are created by using <div> or <table> elements. CSS are used to position elements, or to create backgrounds or colorful look for the pages.

lamp Using <table> to create a nice layout is NOT the correct use of the element. The purpose of the <table> element is to display tabular data!

The following example uses a table with 3 rows and 2 columns - the first and last row spans both columns using the colspan attribute:

Example

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>

<table width="500" border="0">
<tr>
<td colspan="2" style="background-color:#FFA500;">
<h1>Main Title of Web Page</h1>
</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td style="background-color:#FFD700;width:100px;">
<b>Menu</b><br>
HTML<br>
CSS<br>
JavaScript
</td>
<td style="background-color:#EEEEEE;height:200px;width:400px;">
Content goes here</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td colspan="2" style="background-color:#FFA500;text-align:center;">
Copyright © W3Schools.com</td>
</tr>
</table>

</body>
</html>

Try it yourself »

The HTML code above will produce the following result:

Main Title of Web Page
Menu
HTML
CSS
JavaScript 		Content goes here
Copyright © W3Schools.com

HTML Layout - Useful Tips

Tip: The biggest advantage of using CSS is that, if you place the CSS code in an external style sheet, your site becomes MUCH EASIER to maintain. You can change the layout of all your pages by editing one file. To learn more about CSS, study our CSS tutorial.

Tip: Because advanced layouts take time to create, a quicker option is to use a template. Search Google for free website templates (these are pre-built website layouts you can use and customize).

HTML Layout Tags

TagDescription
<div>Defines a section in a document (block-level)
<span>Defines a section in a document (inline)


W3Schools Certification

W3Schools' Online Certification

The perfect solution for professionals who need to balance work, family, and career building.

More than 10 000 certificates already issued!

Get Your Certificate »

The HTML Certificate documents your knowledge of HTML.

The HTML5 Certificate documents your knowledge of advanced HTML5.

The CSS Certificate documents your knowledge of advanced CSS.

The JavaScript Certificate documents your knowledge of JavaScript and HTML DOM.

The jQuery Certificate documents your knowledge of jQuery.

The XML Certificate documents your knowledge of XML, XML DOM and XSLT.

The ASP Certificate documents your knowledge of ASP, SQL, and ADO.

The PHP Certificate documents your knowledge of PHP and SQL (MySQL).

Your suggestion:

Close [X]

Thank You For Helping Us!

Your message has been sent to W3Schools.

Close [X]