June 20, 2005:
Do you prefer absolute positioning of elements in your
designs, or do you use tables for placement?
- G.P.., [removed]@msn.com
I really prefer tables. I'm more of an old-school
designer that realizes that web designs are going to look a
bit different on every machine, taking into consideration screen
size/resolution, platform, browser, and other variables, and
I think using tables ensures that each design is going to look
as close to the way I intended it to on a variety of computers.
Tables also "flex" nicely sizewise if you design something
that fills the screen and uses a 100% table width to accomplish
this.
I do like some elements of absolute positioning,
but unfortunately as long as the browser wars wage on, and both
of the big two (Netscape and Internet Explorer) continue to
interpret code differently, it's not the easiest task to design
something that looks about the same for both without introducing
breaks and issues with element positioning. Using tables ensures
that users with older browsers will also be able to see your
site in a manner, or close to it,that you intend them to.
Got a question for the webmaster? Email
it to askthewebmaster@newramp.com!
Ask The Webmaster is written biweekly by Jill
Cataldo, Senior Web Developer for NewRamp.com. She has been
working in web development since 1996. Articles are copyright
©2005 NewRamp and may not be reproduced without permission.
Visit the Ask
The Webmaster Archive
