Pro's and Con's - CSS Layouts

Originally Posted by MishieMoo Divs are excellent for basing a design around. They de-clutter the html on a page, and are more flexible than tables. All my layouts are now div with linked css files. CSS also helps with cross browser compatibility, because you can have different stylesheets for different browsers, so more people can see your website the way its supposed to look. Really, CSS is the way to go if you want to keep up in this market =)

Well, I would have to say that it really depends on what kind of layout you are putting together and what kind of positioning that its going to have.

CSS is not always perfect in the eyes of cross-browser compatibility. For instance, opera still has an aweful time with many things concerning positioning and padding. Plus, I have to agree with those commenting above, that absolute positioning is never a good idea if you want your layout to be locked right in terms of dimensions and stretching.

Originally Posted by Ethan Well, I would have to say that it really depends on what kind of layout you are putting together and what kind of positioning that its going to have. CSS is not always perfect in the eyes of cross-browser compatibility. For instance, opera still has an aweful time with many things concerning positioning and padding. Plus, I have to agree with those commenting above, that absolute positioning is never a good idea if you want your layout to be locked right in terms of dimensions and stretching.

There should be only be 1 type of position used: floating. Relative+absolute positioning have their uses, one of which is not for positioning an entire layout.

CSS has issues in that older browsers don't support it (given that some of the CSS wasn't in use back then) or tried to support it however it was implemented incorrect (such as the IE5.5 box model from hell) but other than that, not really. It's more whats being fed to the browser than the CSS itself. That's like saying IE6 has problems, therefore its HTML+CSS's fault. You just have to learn to tame it so it does what it should, then you'll never have a problem.

Sometimes it just takes good old trial+error for all browsers to play fair.

Yeah, margins and paddings are the only issues I ever have that cause bombardments of other issues. But after a while you learn to head off the problems before they occur. CSS all the way.

Originally Posted by Liam stay away from absolute positioning..

There is nothing wrong with absolute positioning if you use it for the right reasons, and or know how to use it.

As with rochow said, its not really used for whole layouts, but is very useful.

Earlier, I used the table based layout.. But after learning CSS, I think I won't be going back to Table based layouts again...
One you create a layout , the CSS files can be used again in another project with a similar layout but with different graphics..
You can have a look at www.csszengarden.com/ The content remains the same but the ultimate design changes..
Regarding the Cross Browser compatibility issues, you need to first know the most common problems with the IE, Safari etc and modify the CSS code to get the perfect output...
I strongly suggest you to go for a CSS based design

Originally Posted by web2de5ine Earlier, I used the table based layout.. But after learning CSS, I think I won't be going back to Table based layouts again...

I go back to tables when creating email templates... god, so hard.

Originally Posted by rochow I go back to tables when creating email templates... god, so hard.

I know right? All that inline CSS is a pita to write, only way to go for emails though.

Originally Posted by Awesome I know right? All that inline CSS is a pita to write, only way to go for emails though.

I don't use CSS at all for maximum compatibility; instead: good old <font> tags, spacers gif's, and a whole lot of frustation!

No reason to completely abandon standards though. CSS support blows but when used wisely (inline, full comment, etc) will render lovely.

I started coding HTML back in 1994 with Notepad... we had to use tables to get anything done! It took years for things to come along like CSS... and then more years for the browser wars to support CSS to the point we can now use CSS. So now every one is a CSS master... I use tables when I need to use them... and CSS for standards complacence.