G'day again
Once upon a time it was NN4, now it's IE6, and tomorrow who knows? And
that's the point of designing to web standards. As for what the client
wants, I say it's two of: good, fast, cheap.
Yep. And some of those have difficulty with non table based layouts :-)
However, I doubt very much that the big driver is the visual design Bert,
and I doubt most people visiting or commissioning a web site give two
hoots as to how its built.
The vast majority of my clients don't care whether I use a table or divs
(and would not even know the difference). But they do often want a
particular layout and all except a few do look at it with a graphical
browser.
For the record, the people paying my bills *do* want standards based
design - I'm working in e-govt - and they want content that is usable by
people, and *easily* manipulated by machines.
Standards based (good) does not rule out using the occasional table for
layout if it's the quickest way to get something out there (fast and
cheap).
("e-govt" - is that the real world? LOL)
If a 2 column CSS layout with a band of color down one side is difficult
to implement with todays technology, shouldn't we instead look for designs
that work with the technology we are using?
If it's your own site and you are happy to have a different layout, sure. Or
if you can convince the client that your way is better. But if the client
wants a particular look, We should give them what they want. If that means
using a *single* table to get two columns of equal length and with different
background colors, I will use the table.
setting a background on one or two div's *still* uses less code than the
equivalent markup for tables.
Show me an example?* *Take into account not just the html, but also the
css and the file size of any images you might use for the background
color(s).
No, it's not a crime, but really if
your design needs a table in the strucutral
layer to support the visual design, should
you not revisit the visual design?
The visual design is not always negotiable, so I use the means available
to me to deliver what I am paid to deliver in the most efficient way I
can. To me that means CSS based layouts *most* of the time.
Regards
--
Bert Doorn, Better Web Design
http://www.betterwebdesign.com.au/
Fast-loading, user-friendly websites
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