<DIV> vs <TABLE>

You very possibly could if you had some facts to back your case, but it seems you don't. You're always willing to debate until I ask you for facts; then you suddenly lose interest in the conversation.

 

Expect to hear a lot about it - will be a buzzword in 2006...

 

If you say so, Nut. I don't think this is about facts. I think it's about opinion. You seem to think using tables for layout or Internet Explorer is a sin against nature. I don't. C'est la vie.

But I really don't see any point in you repeating your opinion and me repeating mine ad nauseum, do you?

 

Yikes. I read the blog. I still don't know what it means

 

I think this is the perfect summary for everything you've said.

 

Same here - but I'm starting to hear our programmers mention it a lot - I think it just means when you take out all the formatting and layout, you get the information as its intended - <h1><h2><p><h3><p>, etc - flat down the page.

 

I guess my reaction is, "OK but how is this different from what most of us have always done?"... it's a new catch phrase but it doesn't seem like a new concept.

 

No - I'd agree, I think my understanding is simplistic and there's maybe a lot more too it that I'm not yet comprehending. Either that or I need a new set of Emporer wear...

 

I'm a tables person myself.

I would really like to exclusively use divs for layout, but I get put off everytime I visit a page and see layers overlapping form elements, layers overlapping other layer etc...

Also, what happens when you try and view a DIV layout site in a text only browser like lynx? (ok, I know no-one uses it, but still).

I get into regular arguments with some friends who use dreamweaver, which from what I hear, uses divs everywhere.

 

You get something very much like this,

http://www.csszengarden.com/?cssfile=none

that is, all visual formatting information is disregarded and you are left with the natural document structure.

If you're writing semantic HTML then you really need to be writing your code with absolutely no conception of how the final page will look. Or, possbily an easier way of looking at it, have ten different visual designs in mind, and write code that will work with them all. The colors and layouts you use should be independent of the organization and structure of the information being styled. Everything on the page should be marked up for what it is, not how it will look: if information is a list, but you don't want bullets, mark it up as a list anyway since that's what the information is, and remove the bullets later with CSS. Attached is a page I had put together for someone else a while back to show how such code and designs can be made.

 

It makes a *lot* more sense than a table based layout - that's the whole point...

 

My opinion: and i've stated it before - use what you need to use to get the job done. Carefully consider your target demographic and design accordingly, and you can't go wrong.

As far as tables being the "wrong" way to design websites, which i do personally disagree with (in much the same way that i would disagree with someone saying that CSS is the "wrong" way to design websites), i'd be curious why, then, such sites as:

www.microsoft.com
www.ibm.com
www.google.com

etc... are using tables?

Honestly, it's a pretty silly issue to find yourself on either side of the fence on. tables/css won't make or break your website.

 

Wow, that is one extremely cool demo of what CSS can really do.

 

Many don't realize how beneficial semantics + CSS can be until they have created and maintained a site that uses these principles. Unfortunely, you probably can't make it in quite the right way the first time; it seems difficult and clumsy. Like everything else, it takes time and practice to master.

And there are sites that have fully converted to this approach, such as msn.com.

 

( Assuming this comment was sarcastic: )

Why can't people read so they know what they're talking about?!?

Firstly, I posted that link in direct response to your question of how a CSS-layout site would look in a text browser. Thus, you are seeing the site with no CSS applied.

Secondly, the second sentence on that page says, "Select any style sheet from the list to load it into this page." So you scroll to the heading "Select a design" and pick one.

 

I love that site - Simply Stunning.

 

I only use css now for the most part. Now that I understand how it works, it is much easier to use than tables.

 

Div's all the way...

1. Less Code
2. Lower File Sizes
3. Better Browser Compatability

To name but a few reasons.

 

i use divs, although its easier to create tables

 

No I wasn't trying to be sarcastic, I genuinly have never seen any application of css like that before and it is quite cool how much a change in stylesheet can do for a site.