(Shelly Cashman Series) Gary B. Shelly, H. Albert Napier, Ollie N. Rivers-Web design_ introductory concepts and techniques -Cengage Learning (2008)

Step 5: Design the Look and Feel of the Site 109
Figure 4-9 A logical, standard page layout provides visual consistency across all pages at a site.
A layout grid, layout tables, and Cascading Style Sheets are all used to create
attractive page layouts.
LAYOUT GRIDS Many designers use an underlying structure of rows and columns,
called a layout grid, to position content on a page. You can precisely position and align
content, set margin width, and more using a layout grid. A layout grid serves only as a
visual guide for positioning content and does not appear when a Web page is actually
viewed with a browser.
You can draw a layout grid on paper. Alternatively, you can use the layout grid
provided by a WYSIWYG editor, such as Expression Web or Dreamweaver. Using a
WYSIWYG editor layout grid (Figure 4-10) has several advantages over drawing a layout
grid on paper. For example, it is easy to add and reposition content on a WYSIWYG grid.
Additionally, you can change grid line color, spacing (pixels, inches, or centimeters), and
style (dotted, solid, dashed). You can also set a command to have content automatically
“snap to,” or align precisely with, the closest grid line.