<a href="Default.aspx "><asp:ImageMap ID="ImageMap1" runat="server" Height="55px" Style="position: relative; left: -298px; top: -4px;"

Width="196px" ImageUrl="~/images/tran.gif">

</asp:ImageMap></a>

  The "position" is so annoying - as soon as i try to move one across, one then starts to move itself, just very difficult to have some simple links.  Is there a better way perhaps, just to place some live links in the  MasterPage.master?  thx

Could you use CSS to set the background image for the header and lower row, then position your links in the rows as required?

Nah i havent used CSS yet in VWD 5, only HTML and table structure only.......?

  You're using a table for layout?

If you set an ID for the header row to "header_row" you should be able to then set a background image for that with something like 

#header_row{width:748px; background:transparent url(Images/header_img.jpg) no-repeat;}

<div id="header_row">
</div>
<div id="content">
<!-- content goes here -->
</div>
<div id="footer">
<!-- footer goes here -->
</div>