Nan, cellpadding and cellspacing are spacing inside a table command that nothing else can 'penetrate'. It means that when you're nesting several tables inside one another, whatever cellpadding and cellspacing you specify is going to be the background color or image of the table just before it. Your next table you give the table command for cannot get closer to any of the edges than the number of cellPADDING pixels you specify. The cellSPACING is a little bit different - it means that your tables themselves are spaced whatever amount apart that you specify the cellSPACING to be. I bet that doesn't make much sense. :( Very hard to explain. One just has to practice using different numbers to see the effect you get.