Tables vs CSS for site layout...

[spot]

Originally Posted by L4DD13

Tables shouldnt be used for layouts IMHO.

Would you like to explain this in terms of your earlier "I prefer to use tables for graphical layouts and use div tags for simple informative websites"? Is there something specific about graphics?

[spot]

So, to summarise the advice so far and add slightly to it, we're recommending:

• A single CSS file covering the entire site to dictate layout and general appearance
• A template (if we're in an environment like DreamWeaver) to carry at least a portion of the metatags, the client-side and server-side programming functions, standardised webpage header or footer requirements
• DIV-wrapped HTML content ordered not by layout considerations but perhaps by the meat-first links-and-fripperies-later needs of, for example, screen-reader software, and simplified maintenance

Sites like http://www.csszengarden.com/ give a good indication of why to at least try. Goodness knows people put enough effort into learning layout tricks when tables and frames were the sole option, it's an effort of will to leave that investment behind and start afresh with the current paradigm. It's not that tables won't or can't, so much as the flexibility which comes from adopting the new syntaxes for layout and reverting tables to their original role of tabulation.

Quite how someone who wants to get into constructing their own website is meant to begin, these days, I'm not sure. The learning curve is immense. If it were just a matter of these initial constructs then it would be manageable but that's only fine for sites whose content is fully known at the time they're written. Any page content which is only determined at the moment of use requires a programming language as well. If the fresh content is derived solely from the user (or client) then the programming can run on the user's computer and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Client-side_scripting discusses the two most common, Javascript and VBScript. If the fresh content is derived from the host server then languages like php, VBScript (again) or perl are common. If the server-side fresh content is to be stored and updated there, then a database engine is a likely addition.

Possibly - just possibly - there are pre-coded functions and routines which will do exactly what's needed and the constructor can copy/paste that into their page. Possibly they'll walk away and install a package instead, hoping to tailor the appearance to conform to their original design. What they'll not easily do is master the entire set of tools that are needed to construct a dynamic site from scratch, especially against a time constraint.

Go on, Michael, let's depress them a bit more shall we?

[G-man]

CSS Rules! 'nuff said.