I'm going to completely rebuild my site with freewebs. New layout format. all that good stuff. so, whats the most easy way to do this? Tables, CSS, HTML, or something else?

It depends what you want the layout to be like. You would obviously use HTML, because you can't use just tables or css. Css is nice because you can make an external style sheet and specify a lot about your website in there and that makes the actual webpage code shorter and easier to look through. Some layouts work best with tables.... you can even use a combination....
What exactly did you have in mind?

I'm not totally sure yet, I'm looking at other sites for ideas right now.

well, when you find something you like you can post it here if you want and we can give you suggestions on how to do it.

kay-dokie. will do. ^_^

sorry for the double post. hehe. ok, I've found the layout i wanted and I put it up on a test page.

http://www.geocities.com/theanime_fangirl//newlaytest.html

but! in the content area, it keeps going in one line all the way across the page. how could I fix that?

I'm so so so sorry for the triple post, but I didn't edit in time! please forgive me lissa!

ok another question, when I click on one of the links to the left, it opens in a new window. how could I fix that to open in the content area?

to answer your original question, a lot of people find using a css layout easier and better in many ways than a table (html) layout.

for your target into the "main" area, you will need to use an IFRAME. css does not have that ability.

Iframe.. hm. whats that?

basic description = a window on your webpage that shows a second webpage inside of it. the contents of the iframe can be changed to different webpages (and contents) at the click of your links.

on this site, you can find some info on iframes under htmlhelp and frames. or you can google up some tutorials too.