Hey everyone

Ok so this is my first 'proper' post on this forum and already Im after help

Im just about to start the coding for my 'first' website - well when I say first website - I have made loads of sites before to learn what im doing and made an intranet for the place where I work - this is the first site that I am making 'seriously' for myself.

Anyway having read through the forum I see that sites using css for layout instead of tables are becoming increasingly popular. I am more than comfortable making a site out of tables, css however I only have basic knowledge of. So my question is should I use tables or css for my layout? What are the advantages of using css to layout your site rather than tables? Is it more difficult to use css? Do you know of any good sites with tutorials on how to use css for a complete layout(as I already know a little css)?

OK so that turned into 4 questions, whoops

Any help would be much appreciated

sparky-uk

There are far too many reasons for me to list here, so Google'll do the trick.

I personally just suggest using it because it's better, cleaner, easier to maintain, and so easy to use and get used to. Oh, and because you can change your design with the quick alteration of a single external file.

Oh and because tables suck

Tables are good for tabular data.

Making your site in CSS is a good way to learn.

sure

I have some reading for you, take a look at the css section of the forums: http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=53
be sure to go through:
- the CSS FAQ: http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=171943
- the 3 eq col layout: http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=143801 written both by SPF CSS Guru Paul O'B
visit Sitepoint CSS tutorials here: http://www.sitepoint.com/subcat/css
Visit: www.w3schools.com/css/css_intro.asp
may be also visit: http://www.alistapart.com/ and http://www.mezzoblue.com/
For inspiration: www.csszengarden.com/ & www.cssbeauty.com/

Enjoy the reading and good luck sparky-uk

The alternative is to combine tables and CSS, and moving forward from that point. It's a good start if you feel like you don't have enough time to completely learn how to use CSS for layout.

Yes I agree this may really help u it is just a step to start with CSS !

Tables were never intended for layout. They were intended for displaying tabular data. Use CSS.

Joe

Totally agree... take a step at a time. Learn how to style your tables and content with css and then move slowly towards a full css layout.

If you look around for css tutorials and you find you feel quite confident to get straight into a css layout... then go for it... I'd choose a simple layout to start with though. :-)

Nadia

I agree that you should use CSS. Tables are quick and easy but that's the result you get, something that looks like it was done quick and easy. I've used tables on my sites also but if you spend the extra time learning CSS this time, you'll have a lot better looking site and good knowledge of CSS for your future sites.

Better to do it in CSS, your code will be cleaner, and the pages will be reduced in size compared to tables.. When I switched to CSS, my bandwidth was reduced from 500 MB to 300 MB a day..

Use CSS for positioning and such and tables for text, etc. Combine them.


Dark T. - Thank you for the great resources

Cheers,

StudioWorks

You are welcome Happy it helped you

The only issue with using tables and css is the slow rendering time. With no tables the page displays as it loads.

Use a preloader for the images.. hey presto - (tables or not) render magic!

Css is the way to go and I'll add the following link for inspiration.
cssvault - also has lots of great css resource links.

The Zen of CSS is the best place to go. It is inspirational and shows you all the great things you can do with css and images instead of using tables.
http://www.csszengarden.com/
HTMLGuy

It is inspirational agreed, but is it truly 'real world' stuff :-)

Nadia

I would go tableless, it is a little painful and frustrating at first, but you won't regret it. On my web design site I went completely tableless and I love it.

It's just to show the possibilities of css. I definitely know that is not real world stuff!
HTMLGuy

thanks for all the great help everyone