Post details: CSS vs. Tables on Handhelds

05/05/06

Permalink 09:58:08 am, 384 words, 1394 views  
Categories: Web & Presentation

CSS vs. Tables on Handhelds

Tables and CSS
XHTML is a good however a tough thing. It allows use tags <table>, which was often used to support the layouts of websites, not only to present tabular data. There are many heated discussions on the Net about CSS versus Tables. For example, there is a whole section dedicated to this controversy.
Though my point is somewhat different. I want to stress out the growing need for websites that could be viewed on handhelds (i.e. PDAs, Palms, smart phones, Pocket PCs, etc.). Even Google introduces a new search - only for mobile viewable websites. So, there is a whole new(?) market.

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And how the CSS vs. Table discussion fits in here? Usually web designers develop two different presentations of a website or use some tricks to strip off all images and style tags in the existing website. The thing is that with use of CSS and DIV tags you can create one website to address both markets (desktop and mobile). At least that's what I've done here.
CSS has ability to specify what device should use the styles you specified. The options are all, screen, print, handheld, etc. It means that you can rearrange or hide the elements of your website without recreating or changing the content specifically for the target device (read "market").
When you use old and reliable tables, you loose this flexibility. For example, with a table based design this blog would have at least two columns - posts and the side bar. On a handheld you would have a hard time to see this page - these two columns would collide and strugle for space on the screen. But when you use DIV tags, these columns easily follow each other. The posts come first and the side bar will be at the end of the page. And you can even turn some of the side items off (such as advertisments and RSS links). And it's so easy to adjust fonts, image sizes and even location of items that your website will look beautifuly on every type of the media.

So, what's the conclusion? I would say that if you want to stay on top of the latest design wave and have a usable website (for desktops and mobile devices) and let people easily print your pages - learn XHTML and CSS.

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