Nigel said: > The idea that table based designs look like something from 1998 is > ridiculous.
Yes, it is, but fortunately no-one here made that claim. It's a figurative term, not literal. We're not talking about a specific look (like techno, goth, post-postmodern, deconstructed), rather a design pattern: a head/3 column/foot table layout with multicolored columns from the 'killer site' era is what we're referring to as a 1998 design. > I've seen a lot excellent visual design which is implemented > in table form (some well others not so well). Yes, there are a lot of nice looking table based visual designs, but do they work? And, this may surprise you but, designers aside, not too many people surf the net looking for nice examples of visual design - in the same way most people don't collect 3-fold brochures, or design annuals. Visual design, usually supports content. > On the other hand some of > what passes for "design" on this list may be great in terms of standards > and accessibility but is laughable in terms of visual design. That's a bit insulting isn't it, you really have no idea about the quality of design of this list's members? See the point above. 'Design' that begins and ends in the visual plane is really just playing with colors and shapes. > The point being, neither method has the monopoly on good design, > certainly not CSS which has more than its fair share of bland cookie- > cutter sites. True, there is as much poor design using standards as there is with table based layouts, again, no-one claimed otherwised. >I > strive to exploit the power of CSS but if due to real world constraints > (including my knowledge of CSS) I'm forced to use a table, then so be > it. As it happens I've only built 1 table based site this year and I > have no shame and no regrets, Good on you. > the site brings in millions of dollars a year. Yeah, so do google and amazon, both of which are pretty "laughable" in terms of visual design. And oh, pre-1998 ;-) kind regards Terrence Wood. ****************************************************** The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm for some hints on posting to the list & getting help ******************************************************
