The default settings in NetObjects Fusion use what is called Nested Tables as the HTML publishing output. This means that the pages use HTML tables nested inside one another in order to make sure that elements are positioned the way you want.  Below is an example of a nested table I created using the table tool:

This is table one. This is table two.

NetObjects Fusion automatically creates tables when it generates the HTML for the page.  You don’t see these tables because NetObjects Fusion sets all the border properties to zero. However, they are still there and this determines how the page behaves when you publish.

NetObjects Fusion has two ways of generating Nested Tables:  By Columns or by Rows. When the tables are generated by columns this means that NetObjects Fusion creates the HTML so that elements are organized into columns first, then those columns are broken up into rows. What this means is that elements on the page which can be in the same column are  in one table, while other elements which can be in a different column are placed in another table. If one table contains text (which can change size) and the other table contains images (which cannot change size) the table containing the text can expand downward independantly of the other column.

When the tables are generated  by Rows, this means that NetObjects Fusion creates the HTML so that elements are organized first by what row they are in. Then each row may be split up into columns or cells of data. What this means is that elements on the page which are in the same row always stay together when the text size changes, rather than elements moving down while others stay in the same place.

This probably sounds a bit esoteric so let’s take a look at some sample pages which have the borders for the tables turned on so that you can see how the HTML is created. We can look at how these layouts behave when fonts change size. We’ll start with the default setting of Columns.