Web Standards Design

 

Fitting tables

Page history last edited by Joseph Lowery 1 yr ago

Use tables for data, not design

It appears you're using a table to lay out your page rather than CSS. While this is no quick fix, you should seriously consider moving to the web standards practice of CSS-based layouts. There are a great many number of reasons why, but here are the top three:

 

  1. Updating a table-based layout can be a massive time suck. For example, think of what would it take to change from a design with a left sidebar to one with a right. With CSS-based layouts, you could make that switch by changing just a few properties in a separate document and not touch the source code file at all.

     

  2. Table-based layouts may look great on the screen, but just try to display that content on a different device, like a cell phone, and you'll be recreating the entire site to make it all work. CSS-based layouts can move content around, show or hide different regions and otherwise completely reorganize a design according to the device (print, screen, mobile, etc.) automatically.

     

  3. Accessibility takes a nose-dive on table-based designs because content is so tightly tied to presentation. In a CSS-based site, content is separated from presentation and made much more available to everyone, including those using assistive technology like screen readers.

 

No doubt, the learning curve for transitioning from table- to CSS-based design can be a steep one, but the benefits far outweigh the burdens. Take the plunge.

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