Posted by rtconner on 04/14/06 17:57

Thats great and all. But not how do you do this practically? IE and
Mozilla fight over so many CSS options that displaying anything the
same in both of them is a pain. I'm trying to set up a simple layout of
putting a few divs/spans next to each other and have been working on it
for hours (about to be days) and have not found a crossbrowser
solution.


Jonathan N. Little wrote:
> Paul B wrote:
> > I understand that using tables is not the 'correct' way to create a
> > webpage layout, so I wondered what the general consensus is on using
> > div tags to 'simulate' a table:
> > http://seventynine.net/testing/test01.html
> >
> > It is a very very basic example but I'm sure anyone who has made a
> > layout with a table can see the point behind it.
>
> I am absolutely amazed how often this topic appears when it is so often
> very well answered as in this thread. It does not seem to be to
> difficult a concept to wrap ones mind around but yet the misconceptions
> that *all* tables are bad persists!
>
> <soapbox>
> Okay maybe folks cannot recognized what the difference between tabular
> data and layout framework is, so here it goes...
>
> Tables are for tabular data, information that when organized in rows and
> columns, where by such physical organization, has some purpose in
> interpreting the data.
>
> WORK OUTPUT
> ===========
> CHIEFS
> | 1 | 5 | 10 |
> --+----+----+----+
> 10|100 | 15 | 5 |
> --+----+----+----+
> INDIANS 5| 85 | 25 | 3 |
> --+----+----+----+
> 1| 65 | 50 | 0 |
> --+----+----+----+
>
> However if you are using a table to place a bit of data in a specific
> location in the viewport, that is presentation! In this situation ask
> yourself why do you want that bit of text there and I bet your answer
> will be: "Cuz it looks good"! That *is* presentation!
>
> Do *not* use a table to "hang" bits of your webpage's content in
> specific places within the viewport. Use CSS. The real advantage of CSS
> over tables becomes very clear when your decide later on that your do
> not like your navbar on the upper left corner of your webpage but wish
> it on the upper right, (Oh yes! Navbars are *NOT* tabular data, unless
> the pages relate to say dates on a calender and the links are
> understandably place in a table that resembles a page of a calender).
>
> If you use a table you must edit your html (possible many many times
> depending on how many pages are effected on your site) whereas if done
> properly may only require one single change to a stylesheet to make the
> change to your entire site!
>
> Again to be clear: if you're using a table to place to bits here and
> there on the page "'cuz it looks good"--STOP! If you are doing it to
> arrange info in rows and columns because is has a "this vs. that"
> relationship then by all means!
> </soapbox>
>
> --
> Take care,
>
> Jonathan
> -------------------
> LITTLE WORKS STUDIO
> http://www.LittleWorksStudio.com

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