i am new to DW and can't figure out how to create a background with a gradient ie. black fading to blue
please help !

This is not really possible. The best thing you could do is create a gradient image using Fireworks and then use it as background for your table. This will work fine when the gradient goes from the left to the right and you know the exact width of the table. But in any other situations (unknown/unpredictable width, top-down gradient etc etc) you will never have a 100% sattifying solution.

Waldo Smeets - www.UDzone.com Webmaster
------------------------------------------
www.UDzone.com : A dynamic Dreamweaver,
Ultradev and Fireworks site for developers
by developers.
------------------------------------------

Hi Auzzie,
I agree with Waldo that you can create a gradient image using Fireworks and then use it as a background. In addition, after that, if you apply the extension "Background that Fit" by Massimo Foti you may be able to get a satisfactory viewing of your background with differing monitor resolutions and window resizings. This extension is a special kind of self-resizing background image that will scale to fit the new size window--well, not the background image exactly, but an image that seems to be a background image. I have used it and found it amazing. You can find it on the Macromedia Exchange for Dreamweaver UltraDev.
With kind regards,
Jean-Marie Bonnar

Hi again Auzzie,
I think I should add that when you use the extension "Background that Fit" by Massimo Foti you cannot view your background image in design view...you can only view the background effects by previewing through the browser. Therefore, you may also want to use your Fireworks created table with gradients as a tracing image for design view purposes. It is easy to apply your image as a tracing image by setting it through the Page Properties in Dreamweaver UltraDev.
With kind regards,
Jean-Marie Bonnar

Thanks Jean-Marie, I was not aware of that extension.

Waldo Smeets - www.UDzone.com Webmaster
------------------------------------------
www.UDzone.com : A dynamic Dreamweaver,
Ultradev and Fireworks site for developers
by developers.
------------------------------------------