Re: [WSG] CSS vs tables

[tony]

Here are some thoughts on Tables and tableless design, I tried to make it brief
:).

Tables and divs (CSS needs some structure) have different properties and so
react differently to different situations.
A printed page is very different to a page viewed on the web via a web enabled
device. Once a page is printed that's it, no different resolution or device to
worry about.
Tables give us a more rigid layout closer to print, which is what most web
designs were (and possibly still are) based on.
As the web evolves we need to develop more flexible pages that can be viewed in
numerous devices at different resolutions etc.
This is where divs and CSS have a big advantage over table designs.
Divs and CSS and be used to develop fluid designs.
The problem is that most people still have hangups over printed media and fixed
layouts.
They want this column next to that one all the time and for it to look the same
on every device.
There's nothing wrong with a column droping to the next line at small window
sizes. Or that the page looks different in browser "A" when compared with
browser "B". It's only us web developers that use multiple browsers to view a
site anyway. So if "A" looks slightly different from "B" as long as they look
good and the content is accessible we should have nothing to worry about.

Web Development is evolving and will continue to evolve as will the minds and
ideas of the developers.
There is no perfect way to build a web site we can only do our best with the
knowledge of the time.
In 5 years people will say that some of the techniques we think are great today
are inaccessible for the next generation of devices.

We still have a long way to go in improving designs but I think we are heading
in the right direction.

Tony
http://www.csscreator.com/







*****************************************************
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
*****************************************************