There’s no "best way" to lay out your pages; your circumstances determine which method works best. The pros and cons of each method are listed here.
If precise placement of content is important to you, or if you want to publish individual pages using an HTML output type that is different from the rest of the site, use the Layout area as the container for your page layout.
Layout Advantages
You have pixel-level control of the layout and design of your page.
You can drag-and-drop objects into position.
You can specify the HTML output type for any individual Layout.
Layouts support the column or row priority for page formatting, which means pages adjust more predictably to a site visitor’s font and display configurations.
Layout Limitations
Position-based pages require more HTML code to achieve pixel-level placement of content, so your HTML files will be somewhat larger.
Text cannot flow around other objects unless they are embedded in a text box. To create a text wrap effect you have to create multiple text boxes to contain the other objects.
You cannot set the Layout to wrap to the width of your site visitor’s browser. If the browser window is wider than your page, the page’s background fills in; if the window is smaller than your page width, your site visitor has to scroll.
Like Layouts, Layout Regions offer pixel-level placement and a choice of HTML output methods, but you can embed them in text boxes. So, if you need precise placement or specific output for some content, but want to generate leaner pages, you can use text boxes as your main layout container and embed Layout Regions for selected content.
Layout Region Advantages
You have pixel-level control of the layout and design of content within the Layout Region.
You can embed the Layout Region within a text box, which combines the benefits of both containers.
You can specify the HTML output type for any individual Layout Region.
Layout Regions support the column or row priority for page formatting so selected sections of your page can adjust more predictably to site visitor’s font and display configuration.
Layout Region Limitations
HTML page files are significantly larger and download more slowly.
Text cannot flow around other objects unless they are embedded in a text box. To create a text wrap effect, you have to create multiple text boxes within the Layout Region.
You cannot maximize a Layout Region to the full Layout size, or set the Layout Region to wrap to the width of your site visitor’s browser.
Like Layouts, Layout Regions offer pixel-level placement and a choice of HTML output methods, but you can embed them in text boxes. So, if you need precise placement or specific output for some content, but want to generate leaner pages, you can use text boxes as your main layout container and embed Layout Regions for selected content.
Multi Layout Region Advantages
You have pixel-level control of the layout and design of content within the Layout Region.
You can embed the Layout Region within a text box, which combines the benefits of both containers.
You can specify the HTML output type for any individual Layout Region.
Layout Regions support the column or row priority for page formatting so selected sections of your page can adjust more predictably to site visitor’s font and display configuration.
Multi Layout Region Limitations
HTML page files are significantly larger and download more slowly.
Text cannot flow around other objects unless they are embedded in a text box. To create a text wrap effect, you have to create multiple text boxes within the Layout Region.
You cannot maximize a Layout Region to the full Layout size, or set the Layout Region to wrap to the width of your site visitor’s browser.
If efficient, lean HTML pages are more critical to site visitors than precise placement of content, use a text box for page layout.
Text Box Advantages
NetObjects Fusion 12 generates extremely efficient HTML code for your site. HTML files are smaller, which means they load faster.
Text within the text box can be set to flow around other embedded objects, so you don’t have to create multiple text boxes to achieve a text-wrap effect.
You can set the text box to expand itself to the size of the browser window. When your site visitor views the page, it rewraps to fit within the browser window.
You can use any HTML output method: HTML 4.01 with Tables, HTML 4.01 or XHTML 1.0.
Text Box Limitations
You give up pixel-level control of the layout and design of your page, and use alignment choices to control the placement of objects, which means the way they appear in a browser can be somewhat unpredictable.
If your page design or page content is tabular, you can use a NetObjects Fusion 12 table to control the layout of the entire page.
Table Advantages
Each cell within a table functions like a text box, with all the attributes and controls of a text box outside the table.
You can embed objects within cells, arrange them using each object’s alignment properties, and wrap text around objects.
You can use a percent width layout so the basic layout design adjusts to changes in browser window width, font sizes, or screen resolution.
Table Limitations
You give up pixel-level control of the layout and design of your page, and use alignment choices to control the placement of objects.
Browsers interpret tables differently, so be sure to view the table in all versions of the target browsers.