I think we are getting a little off track here. We know we can do this with css:
div#left {
width:50%;
float:left;
border-right:1px solid #000;
display:inline;
}
div#right {
width:50%;
float:left;
border-left:1px solid #000;
margin-left:-1px;
display:inline;
}
This makes two columns with a single line down the middle. Regardless of height, you have one equal line.
The markup is just two div tags. Much less than a 2 column table, also it's semantic and easily parsed by screen readers, rss feeds, etc.
Now, the problem everyone seems to have is that one column just *has* to be a different color. Isn't this a little superficial? If we really want to talk about what's more correct, semantic, etc, then we need to consider that xhtml/css are in a transition stage right now and maybe we need to be a little less superficial until CSS provides the functionality we want. I know the web is primarily viewed as a visual medium but the W3C is trying to make everyone realize that the web is meant to be a lot more than that. Whether your page is being crawled by Google or parsed into an RSS feed, you are better off using semantics.
Besides, having or not having a color down one side of the layout is irrelevant to the content. Whether a web site you design for a client has certain colors or not doesn't change the effectiveness of the page for me, the viewer. I'm going to visit your client's page to get information, and I won't mind if the two columns are the same color. Really, most viewers probably don't care, they just care about whether the content is there.
Now, may I ask that you please stop insisting that tables for layout are semantically correct, or that two columns of text are tabular data, etc. Just be honest: you want to use the wrong tool for the job because it's the quick and easy solution. That's all you have to say. Let me just mention a couple things:
- When CSS finally has the functionality for equal columns, and we all have to go back to our websites and update them, it will be a lot easier for those of us who used divs.
- For every website that you could show me with a nice looking two column two color table layout, I can show you 10 websites that use divs and CSS, are semantically correct, and while not having two colors, are still beautiful.
Christian Montoya
On 9/6/05, Scott Swabey - Lafinboy Productions <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Stevio wrote
> When you create columns using CSS, you are creating a table-like look, are
you not?
Not at all. When you create columns you create a columnar layout, in the
same way a newspaper is a column layout, not a tabular layout.
The physical appearance may be the similar, but the implied meaning is
completely different. A table used purely for achieving a presentational
layout goes against the meaning derived from the table element. Using a
table for layout is a quick and easy solution, but then where do you draw
the line. How many misused tables can you let slip through?
Regards
Scott Swabey
Lafinboy Productions
www.lafinboy.com
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