A method and apparatus for a draw-based Web page editor in which the user uses a "drag and drop" interface to add, delete, and move display elements to define the layout of a Web page. The present invention automatically generates an initial layout for each page. This initial layout contains display elements that represent the links between pages of the site. After the user has defined the layout of the Web page, the user "publishes" the page. The publish function automatically generates at least one HTML table for the page in accordance with the display elements of the page, yielding a true WYSIWYG page.