An AP element (absolutely positioned element) is an HTML page element—specifically, a div tag, or any other tag—that has an absolute position assigned to it. AP elements can contain text, images, or any other content that you can place in the body of an HTML document.

With Dreamweaver, you can use AP elements to lay out your page. You can place AP elements in front of and behind each other, hide some AP elements while showing others, and move AP elements across the screen. You can place a background image in one AP element, then place a second AP element, containing text with a transparent background, in front of that.

AP elements will usually be absolutely positioned div tags. (These are the kinds of AP elements Dreamweaver inserts by default. But remember, you can classify any HTML element (for example, an image) as an AP element by assigning an absolute position to it. All AP elements (not just absolutely positioned div tags) appear in the AP elements panel.