First, I love the html editor, second I have purchased five different books on css and layout of xhtml. I have gone through all the exercises. What inspired me was http://www.csszengarden.com/. It was an eye opener. Also w3c.org has tutorials for both xhtml and css.

Tables are for data not layout. Today, a web developer using tables for layout is a shame. A very lazy web developer that does not want to be up to date with code. I find that external css is a much better way for the search bots to find your content, then traveling through you tables to find the content. But then again, search Google webmasters tools, they will tell you the same thing.

I would never recommend a web developer/designer who does layout in tables. Never, never........

I have been known to tell people that I can't help them with sites designed using tables for layout.

Joel. I was always fascinated by zen garden, but much as I love some of the pages in there, it was pointed out to me by someone far more in the know than me, that everything in there is really more an exercise in Photoshop and graphics than css. On reflection, I can see why this is - after all the code is always the same, and what hits us most is the different use of images on each page.
What do you think?

Probably more can be actually learned from sites like Stu Nicholls ( http://www.cssplay.co.uk/menus/ )and similar who have done lots of experimentation with css to produce a great variety of menus, albums and so on. Tom add a couple of great links in one of the other threads...
I think this was one of them
http://css-tricks.com/downloads/

you will have to excuse me since I am quite the fan of Zen Garden. Its not an exercise in photoshop as much as it is another way to design positioning parts of graphics versus just attaching a background to everything. It is quite difficult, but can result in some very creative beautiful designs.