When to start using CSS layouts?
Wednesday August 30, 2006
I got this email from a reader asking about when he should start writing CSS layouts rather than tables. What do you think?
I've designed many Web sites using tables but haven't made any using <div> or tableless CSS. So my question is: if I go ahead and design my current site with tableless CSS then will it bring any big problem for me as I'm the only designer working on this site and nobody will be able to help me out?
Here's what I told him:
Personally, I think that it's never too early to start using CSS-based layouts. You will have more difficulty with them at first, as you'll have to basically start over learning how to build your Web pages. But ultimately they will help you.
CSS layouts are often a lot easier to edit and maintain because the styles are separated from the design. So, when you want to add new content, you just add it, you don't have to do tricks like turning on table borders to find the right table cell or add new columns or rows to add more content. And when you want to change the way your paragraphs look or how they display on the page, you simply change one CSS file, and you're done.
Comments
Warning to those using Dreamweaver’s Design mode: CSS absolute positioning is probably not going to look the way you think it should. Use your browser(s) to view the results. Besides, if you’re ready to start using CSS position, you’re probably ready to start doing everything in code anyway.
I am a newbee to web development, I have only taken one HTML class. The instructor, who works in web design, said that CSS is very handy but he could not use it because older browsers would not display CSS properly. Is this still an issue?
Your instructor is teaching you a fairly dated version of HTML. While it’s true that older browsers don’t support CSS as well as newer browsers, something like 99% of the browsers in common use right now support CSS 1 and CSS 2 properties without a lot of differences.
Sure, Netscape 4 doesn’t support CSS very well, but if almost no one is using it, who cares?
Be sure to check your stats on your site to be sure. But most sites these days have about 80% IE 6, 5-10% IE 5, and the rest Firefox, Opera, and Safari.
Take the dive into CSS! It’s much, much, much, much better than table layouts. The design is much more easy to control, update, and maintain over time. It will also get your foot into the door with other programming languages (think JavaScript- getElementByID) because it will get you in the habit of keeping track of your pages’ elements. You may hate it at first, but it is much better in the long run!
Most web browsers handle tables the same way. First, they render the tables, then the content. Because of this, your tables based design would load slightly slower than a pure CSS layout. As always, validate your CSS!
I have a question. My forms don’t work in Dreamweaver. I am told it takes programming. How do I go about finding out how to accomplish this?
Oh my goodness linda! I guess we have the same issue. Good thing I came across this site. Maybe somebody could give us information on what to do. Mistressess in distress here!