The reason why you work with tables is because it is easier for you. That's it.
Frankly, you can look at a div as simply a rectangular box to hold stuff, which is how you are using tables. Need to hold something? Make a box. Same as tables.
And Murray is pointing something very important out. We used to use tables back in the 1990s because we could understand them. After all, who hasn't worked with Excel? Even my 11-year-old daughter has.
Here's how to deal with tags:
Open them.
Add a line.
Close them.
So if you're adding a div, do the following:
<div class="whatever">
</div>
And, in Dreamweaver, if you just type "</" Dreamweaver will automatically close your div, or whatever tag you have open.
One of the reasons why Nancy and Murray are recommending divs and external CSS style sheets is because it will prevent the specific problem you are having right now. You're opening a lot of tags and you are forgetting to close them. Using an external stylesheet that is properly attached to the page you are writing allows you to harness the power of Dreamweaver. To apply a specific style tag to a block ot text, a photo or something else, simply go to your properties panel with that object selected and choose your style from a drop-down list. Dreamweaver will correctly edit your code, opening and closing the tags as they should be.
Another reason why external style sheets are valuable is, if you define those styles site-wide, your entire website will share those styles and look the same from page to page. Visitors will know what to expect because you are consistent. And, if you are using the same style sheet sitewide, the client (the specific browser being used to view your website) will hold the style sheet in the computer's memory, so, after the first page loads your style sheet, all successive pages will load really fast.
Nancy has answered your specific question. You should credit her with the correct answer and mark Murray's answer, as well as Jim Carpenter's as "helpful."
-Mark
