Carpentry and Woodworking - How to glue wood without it sliding all over

I am making door stiles and rails for a french door and Im using plywood.

I have to glue three pieces of 1/2 ply. They will be glued on top of each other, laying flat (so I end up with a 1.5" think piece) - not joined end to end.

Two outside pieces are 80" long and 3" wide. Sandwiched between them will be a 70 inch piece.

I know when I apply glue to each side of the middle piece and try to clamp them they will slide all over and Ill never get the sides flush.

Also, I have 8 sets of these to do and Id like to clamp them all at once.

Im thinking maybe I should dry fit one set. Then, on one end, drill a 1/4" hole - straight through the top and middle piece and stopping 1/2 through the third piece. Then do another hold on the other end.

Then,when I glue them, put a 1/4" dowel through the hole and this should keep the boards from moving. If I pre-drill all eight sets I can glue and dowel them pretty quickly and clamp them all together. Then , Ill just have some 1/4" holes to fill before painting.

Does this sound reasonable? Anyone with experience have any info?

Another question. When glueing I also want to put a few nails in - right? Just 18 gauge with my air gun. Is it ok to glue and clamp, put in the nails, then unclamp and set aside for a few minutes while I workon the next piece before reclamping them all together?

Or should the nails be put in after a day or so of letting the glue dry?

The dowels make good sense and will look good as opposed to nails or screws. Now, you don't have to use an entire gallon of glue at one time. Buy some flux brushes (from the welding dept of a hardware or big box store), and spread the glue out thinly. Too thick a layer of glue will actually make a weak joint.