Hi. I'm a newbie when it comes to CSS layouts. I know my CSS styles to an
extent..but I have only just been reading about layouts. When reading DW Help,
they suggested that I use one of their own CSS layouts as it can be hard to get
a successful, good looking, cross-browser CSS Layout of your own design.
Trusting this tip, I went ahead and chose a DW CSS layout. This was my first
real go with div tags and it made me think.

Every one says CSS layouts are much better than tables...
If so. Why is it that CSS layouts are so much harder to work..and can often
lead to messy pages in other browsers?

When using CSS layouts, i found that what i saw in Design view was nothing
like what i saw in IE on preview.

Am I right in saying that if you use tables, and you want to have a white
central colum as your page, you just centre the table and its no problem. With
CSS layouts, is there even a way to have a central column, or will it just
change its horizontal position as soon as someone comes along with a different
browser or different screen resolution?

Is there an easy way to put backgrounds to a layer?

From what DW Help says...it implies that anything I do (like drawing in my own
Div tags) will result in some sort of screw up in cross-browser viewing and
different screen resolutions.

I have read people saying not to use tables but to use CSS layouts. Im trying
to believe this but so far the journey hasnt been fun.

Can anybody give me a simple "down low" of what Im doing wrong...or what i'm
missing.?
Thanks

My guess is that you're using a less than optimal CSS template for your
first CSS-P (positioned) project. Remember that DW design view isn't perfect
wysiwyg. If you find your page is broken when you preview it in browser,
check for code validation errors. A missing, misplaced or duplicated </div>
tag can make a page useless. This is why valid code is so important.

Have a look at this 2 column, fixed-width, layout. Look at the source code
to see how it was done.
http://alt-web.com/2-column-fixed-width-template.html

--Nancy O.
Alt-Web Design & Publishing
www.alt-web.com


"cripaustin" <webforumsuser@macromedia.com> wrote in message
news:g99909$5pn$1@forums.macromedia.com...
> Hi. I'm a newbie when it comes to CSS layouts. I know my CSS styles to an
> extent..but I have only just been reading about layouts. When reading DW
Help,
> they suggested that I use one of their own CSS layouts as it can be hard
to get
> a successful, good looking, cross-browser CSS Layout of your own design.
> Trusting this tip, I went ahead and chose a DW CSS layout. This was my
first
> real go with div tags and it made me think.
>
> Every one says CSS layouts are much better than tables...
> If so. Why is it that CSS layouts are so much harder to work..and can
often
> lead to messy pages in other browsers?
>
> When using CSS layouts, i found that what i saw in Design view was
nothing
> like what i saw in IE on preview.
>
> Am I right in saying that if you use tables, and you want to have a white
> central colum as your page, you just centre the table and its no problem.
With
> CSS layouts, is there even a way to have a central column, or will it just
> change its horizontal position as soon as someone comes along with a
different
> browser or different screen resolution?
>
> Is there an easy way to put backgrounds to a layer?
>
> From what DW Help says...it implies that anything I do (like drawing in
my own
> Div tags) will result in some sort of screw up in cross-browser viewing
and
> different screen resolutions.
>
> I have read people saying not to use tables but to use CSS layouts. Im
trying
> to believe this but so far the journey hasnt been fun.
>
> Can anybody give me a simple "down low" of what Im doing wrong...or what
i'm
> missing.?
> Thanks
>

So. Dont layout using tables. And don't layout using Absolute Positioning....I
layout using distance from margins...(or the centering effect)...

Soooo ...why in DW CS3 have they even bothered with AP tags. And why do they
mislead and lure you into thinking that they are so useful?

Also. Can somebody please confirm/correct this approach to creating my first
CSS layout:

Insert Div tag
Give it an ID.
Create a class in my style sheet which says how this Div tag should be
positioned.
Assign that particular class to the Div tag.
And there we have it. A "layer" positioned from the margins (not AP)

????

I completely understand where you are coming from. I too was ready to cry the
other day just thinking about CSS. My advice (and advice I got from others on
this forum) is to use tables in the beginning for your layout and then use CSS
to style the tables. I found this very useful because it allowed me to layout
my page, without feeling like I needed to know everything about CSS, yet I
could use my beginner knowledge of CSS to style the table cells. As much as
people (the hard-core users) say to not use tables I find it a great resource
if you are just starting out like I am. I tried to learn CSS and build a site
relying on it entirely and I was ready to quit. Tables are not taboo -
especially if you are building a smaller site and nothing too complex.

Good luck. This forum really helped me so keep on posting!

Firstly. Thank you for your replies.

Ruby, I am very familiar with tables and have built sites using them. I have
seen the problems with getting desired results and that is the reasons I would
like to migrate over to using CSS layouts as I personally believe it will be a
whole lot easier and CSS layouts are, should I say, "recommended". But I see
where everyone is coming from...Neither tables nor CSS are wrong nor
right...used for different purposes and used well or not well. I'm sure a well
accomplished table user can create a much neater site than perhaps a CSS user.

The answer is: for me, forget tables. I'v learnt alot over the last couple
days and I'm almost ready to do my first CSS layout. The only thing I don't
understand is about the ID/CSS styles thing that Murray answered. So do I go
about making an ID selector for each DIV? If so, does the ID selector thing go
in the style sheet or just on the html page (if you see what I'm getting at)?

So I practiced yesterday and my code from the CSS sheet which I applied to a
DIV (even as I write this I realise how wrong I was with creating styles) goes
like this:

.test1 {border: 1px solid;
width: 190px;
border-color: red;
margin-left: auto;
margin-right:auto;
margin-top: 100px;
padding: 5px;

If I want to make this into an ID selector..how do I go about this? Thanks

wait. so. As a guess.

Putting #_____ keeps it as an ID you assign to DIVs when you create them and
don't annoyingly show up in your styles?

Putting .______ keeps it as a style which is meant for text, etc but not for
DIVs other wise you will end up with a whole lot of pointless styles which get
in your way when formatting text.

If this is true...any other reasons? Thanks

lol. Yes. Thank You for that explanation. I am grateful.
So do you think I am ready to make my first CSS layout...anything else I
should know?

If you havn't already responded by the time i finish this reply, do you think
you could help me in my "A Quick Question" topic. Thanks

..oO(cripaustin)

>wait. so. As a guess.
>
> Putting #_____ keeps it as an ID you assign to DIVs when you create them and
>don't annoyingly show up in your styles?
>
> Putting .______ keeps it as a style which is meant for text, etc but not for
>DIVs other wise you will end up with a whole lot of pointless styles which get
>in your way when formatting text.
>
> If this is true...

Not exactly. Whether to use IDs or classes (or both) depends on the
purpose of the element and what kind of functionality you need. An ID
for example can also be used as a named anchor and easily be accessed
with JavaScript, because it's unique. A class OTOH can be applied to
multiple elements on the same page and even multiple classes can be
applied at the same time.

It also has absolutely nothing to do with divs. A div is just another
HTML element, it's nothing special. You can apply IDs and classes to
almost all and everything if necessary.

You could search through this group's archive to find many threads which
will explain the differences between IDs and classes in more detail.

Micha

"Murray *ACE*" <forums@HAHAgreat-web-sights.com> wrote in message
news:g9bfog$ii0$1@forums.macromedia.com...
> There is a 'Specificity' consideration in CSS that you have not yet
> grasped.
>
> It is not unusual for any given page element to find itself influenced by
> multiple CSS rules, e.g.,
>
> #bar { color:blue; }
> .foo { color:green; }
> p { color:red; }
> ...
> <p id="bar" class="foo">What color am I?</p>
>
> So, how do you decide what color that text will be? One way is based on
> the cascade of the rules, which says that when there is a conflict between
> multiple rules, the one closest to the element being styled wins. That's
> why using inline styles is not a good general practice -
>
> <p style="color:fucsia;">
>
> since nothing you do in your stylesheet will trump this ugly color.
>
> In addition to the cascade, there is also the Rule of Greater Specificity.

Hi Murray,

I don't think it is an "addition", specificity *is* part of the cascade.


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Thierry
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