Posting HTML from a form - what am I missing here?

[elricstorm]

I have a recruitment form and now I'm tailoring it so that the output is html because I feel it will look nicer. The form output is fine, but the HTML formatting is not. When I preview or post using the format below, I get a very large vertical gap at the top of my page and then the page looks great. It even posts the html below my signature.

Any help would be appreciated.

<tr>
<td class="alt2" valign="middle">
<b>$formtitle</b>:<br></td>
<td class="alt2" valign="middle" colspan="2">
$bbuserinfo[username]
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="alt2" valign="middle">
<b>$question1</b>:<br></td>
<td class="alt2" valign="middle" colspan="2">
$answer1
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="alt1" valign="middle">
<b>$dropdownquestion1</b>:
</td>
<td class="alt1" valign="middle" colspan="2">
$dropdownanswer1
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="alt1" valign="middle">
<b>$dropdownquestion2</b>:
</td>
<td class="alt1" valign="middle" colspan="2">
$dropdownanswer2
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="alt1" valign="middle">
<b>$dropdownquestion3</b>:
</td>
<td class="alt1" valign="middle" colspan="2">
$dropdownanswer3
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="alt1" valign="middle">
<b>$dropdownquestion4</b>:
</td>
<td class="alt1" valign="middle" colspan="2">
$dropdownanswer4
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="alt2" valign="middle">
<b>$question2</b>:<br></td>
<td class="alt2" valign="middle" colspan="2">
$answer2
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="alt2" valign="middle">
<b>$question3</b>:<br></td>
<td class="alt2" valign="middle" colspan="2">
$answer3
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="alt2" valign="middle">
<b>$question4</b>:<br></td>
<td class="alt2" valign="middle" colspan="2">
$answer4
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="alt2" valign="middle">
<b>$question5</b>:<br></td>
<td class="alt2" valign="middle" colspan="2">
$answer5
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="alt1" colspan="3">
<b>$radioquestion1</b>
</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>$radioanswer1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="alt1" colspan="3">
<b>$radioquestion2</b>
</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>$radioanswer2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="alt1" colspan="3">
<b>$radioquestion3</b>
</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>$radioanswer3</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="alt1" colspan="3">
<b>$radioquestion4</b>
</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>$radioanswer4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="alt2" valign="middle">
<b>$question6</b>:<br></td>
<td class="alt2" valign="middle" colspan="2">
$answer6
</td>
<tr>
<td class="alt2" valign="middle">
<b>$question7</b>:<br></td>
<td class="alt2" valign="middle" colspan="2">
$answer7
</td>
<tr>
<td class="alt2" valign="middle">
<b>$question8</b>:<br></td>
<td class="alt2" valign="middle" colspan="2">
$answer8
</td>
<tr>
<td class="alt2" valign="middle">
<b>$question9</b>:<br></td>
<td class="alt2" valign="middle" colspan="2">
$answer9
</td>
<tr>
<td class="alt2" valign="middle">
<b>$question10</b>:<br></td>
<td class="alt2" valign="middle" colspan="2">
$answer10
</td>
<tr>
<td class="alt2" valign="middle">
<b>$question11</b>:<br></td>
<td class="alt2" valign="middle" colspan="2">
$answer11
</td>
<tr>
<td class="alt1" valign="middle">
<b>$longquestion1</b><br>
</td>
<td class="alt1" valign="middle" colspan="2">
$longanswer1
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="alt1" valign="middle">
<b>$longquestion2</b><br>
</td>
<td class="alt1" valign="middle" colspan="2">
$longanswer2
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="alt1" valign="middle">
<b>$longquestion3</b><br>
</td>
<td class="alt1" valign="middle" colspan="2">
$longanswer3
</td>
</tr>