Layers allow for more accurate positioning of elements than tables allow. Layers are quite easy to use, but they are pretty powerful and require thinking about. They are not supported too well in earlier versions of Netscape, but later version seem to handle them better

This is a basic page made up of layers. The title is one layer and then this text box is another.

To insert a layer you can just choose Insert - Layer. You can then format the layers as normal or use stylesheets. You can also move them around and resize them. The ruler and grid tools are particularly useful for helping with this (View - Rulers - Show & View - Grid - Show)

In order to avoid problems with layers and older browsers you can convert layers to tables using Modify - Layout Mode - Convert Layers to Tables. However, in order to do this you need to make sure that none of your layers are off the edge of the page and that the layers don't overlap (View - Prevent Layer Overlaps).

This page has been converted from layers to tables. The file size is slightly smaller than the original, but the table is pretty complicated and is specifed in pixels. You can see the advantages of tables over layers if you have a look at this page in a Series 3 browser.