HTML was originally invented as a way of sharing text-based
documents. HTML was given the ability to display graphics, but
it did not have the ability to accurately place the graphics at
a desired position in the page. The graphics were just placed at
the beginning, middle, or ends of lines of text. People soon
realized that it was difficult to get groups of icons to be
aligned in straight rows or columns, because the icons were of
different shapes and sizes. Similarly, icons and text, and
blocks of text were difficult to align evenly. Tables Force
Alignment This alignment problem was solved when HTML was given
a table structure in which text and graphics could be placed in
"cells" that are formed by the intersection of the rows and
columns of the table. Because the cells are aligned correctly,
the text and graphics are also aligned. The following example
shows an icon and its corresponding caption being aligned by a
table having one row and two columns. The icon and the text are
centered in the cells of the