There was a question about how to configure a table view – here is a nice guide http://developer.apple.com/iphone/library/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/TableView_iPhone/CreateConfigureTableView/CreateConfigureTableView.html

Regarding custom table view cells loaded from nib files, here is a sample http://iphone.galloway.me.uk/iphone-sdktutorials/custom-uitableviewcell/ . The trick is that you can set up the view controller of the custom cell to be the same class as the table view’s controller and bind the cell view to an outlet of the controller – that way your code does not get fragmented into more classes/controllers.