HTML tables vs. CSS pages

[CMontyBurns]

Wasn't sure where else to put this question/request....

this one is for all the web designers out there...

I am currently redesigning a site (actually several of them) and was wondering if it would be a good idea to switch from a traditional tables based layout to a css-style format.... the mitigating factors are... I am using alot of coldfusion coding as well (though this won't really affect the decision)... and there are a lot of pages to recode (but I am having to do that anyways because of the move to a coldfusion database anyways

the reasons behind asking this question are: everything I have been reading about css is that is better for the future... it allows you to design by keeping the content separate from the design elements-making it easier to change the design in the future, allows you to design for other technologies (cellbased browsers, etc), the only downsides I have seen are for older browsers that don't use css...

just wondering others thoughts on the matter

[Chairman_Kaga]

Wasn't sure where else to put this question/request....

this one is for all the web designers out there...

I am currently redesigning a site (actually several of them) and was wondering if it would be a good idea to switch from a traditional tables based layout to a css-style format.... the mitigating factors are... I am using alot of coldfusion coding as well (though this won't really affect the decision)... and there are a lot of pages to recode (but I am having to do that anyways because of the move to a coldfusion database anyways

the reasons behind asking this question are: everything I have been reading about css is that is better for the future... it allows you to design by keeping the content separate from the design elements-making it easier to change the design in the future, allows you to design for other technologies (cellbased browsers, etc), the only downsides I have seen are for older browsers that don't use css...

just wondering others thoughts on the matter

Depends no the pages. If there is active content, or going to be active content, the style sheets is the way to go. Tables are very limiting in what you can display.


FWIW - I'm playing around with ASP pages right now and plan on working on CSS next for the recipe site. Gives me something to do no weekends. :)

[Bokchoi]

To my knowledge, if you can do it in CSS then by all means do it. I'm about to order a CSS book from sitepoint but I'm not sure if it's the best CSS book to get.

Anybody know of a good CSS book (beginner to advanced)? The book should have some examples to practice/follow.

[Hsnopi]

I would not quite agree. CSS is nice ifyou know exactly what browser everyone is using or if you only care about the most recent people. Tables are tables. All browsers (save some ollllld text only browsers) use tables. You can use both and have the degrade via javascript. OR use PHP for dynamic table generation and plug in the values as variables and still get the bonus of CSS by changing one variable.

Just my 2 cents.

[Bokchoi]

I have a question, would people able to browse a CSS site with their cell phones?

[CMontyBurns]

I have a question, would people able to browse a CSS site with their cell phones?
from what i was reading... you could have a css style sheet that was specific to cellphones, one that makes printouts look better etc... looking for the link to that specific artlcle... think the tag is media or something in css... have read far too much on the subject today :|

[ignus]

i'd use plain white bg w/ black text ala notepad :roll: :D

go w/ the css. i also like using includes (either php or ssi) for the active content, but there are more advanced ways to do that as well.

[NewRussian]

CSS is great, but browser compatibility is still a big problem. IE has some issues with this. Therefore, I would recommend definitely going with CSS but make sure you test the page with different browsers. And try to stay within CSS 1.0. Here is the example of some of the problems with IE and CSS – here (http://www.mezzoblue.com/archives/2004/02/25/sidestepping).

Here is the webpage that demonstrates how cool CSS can be – here (http://www.csszengarden.com). Just amazing…
I am starting a new project with ASP.NET and I will definitely try to use as much CSS as possible.

[Chairman_Kaga]

Style sheets have me confused. I think they hate me. :(

http://goneboating.net/index.htm

Testing a new format for my site.

[ignus]

how are you making your site kaga? looks like youre probably using dreamweaver or something similar. those have integrated css wizards and stuff that can help.

im slowly working on many sites, im using css for text formatting @ www.iodesign.org , it allows me to set font and line size to pixels instead of just the font size tag. i used to use css to make colored scrollbars back in the day, but im not really into doing that anymore.

[Chairman_Kaga]

how are you making your site kaga? looks like youre probably using dreamweaver or something similar. those have integrated css wizards and stuff that can help.

im slowly working on many sites, im using css for text formatting @ www.iodesign.org , it allows me to set font and line size to pixels instead of just the font size tag. i used to use css to make colored scrollbars back in the day, but im not really into doing that anymore.


Yeah. Using FP and Dreamweaver.

Getting there but I was trying to figure out how to do something outside of what they (Dreamweaver) provided in the templates.

Also moving to putting all my images/links into a database to make the pages more dynamic. That part isn't supported really well in the CSS pages. At least not as far as I've figured things out anyway. :)