Creativity is admirable, but be careful and don't pack a screen full of dense and impenetrable information -- especially numbers. A long, unbroken list of numbers quickly drives away all but the truly masochistic -- pretty much negating the purpose of the table to begin with. Put those numbers into an attractive table (better yet, several tables interspersed with a few well-chosen images). Watch your page's attractiveness and readability soar; hear visitors sigh with relief.

Individual table cells can be surprisingly roomy. You can position graphics in them precisely. If you're moved to put graphics in a table, be sure to

• Select images that are similar in size and looks.
• Measure those images to determine their heights and widths in pixels. (Shareware programs such as Paint Shop Pro and GraphicConverter do this automatically.)
• Use HTML markup to position these images within their table cells.

A short-and-sweet table keeps the graphics in check and guarantees that the text always sits nicely to its right.

Two more handy graphics-placement tips produce a consistent, coherent image layout:

• Size your rows and columns of cells that contain images to accommodate the largest graphic.
• Center all graphics in each cell (both vertically and horizontally).