Trying to design a web page directly in an HTML editor usually results in problems. It's better to consider the visual design of the page first, before coding it. You can do this in a drawing program or by sketching on paper.
Often people sketch a rough "grid" that indicates where elements will be placed on a page. This same grid will apply to all similar pages.
When you have sketched a page, you can use the design to better imagine the site's navigational facilities, location information etc., and re-evaluate those aspects as well as the site's visual design. You can do repeated sketches until the result is good enough.
