Layers to tables?

I am a newbie and i have screwed up building my site with layers. www.petigreegifts.com The pages arent displaying correctly in some browsers and ive been told that its because i used layers instead of tables. How can i fix this? I have tried using tables but i cant get pics and text in the exact position I want them in. Im using dw4 and my site was built with a template. Please explain in a "for dummies" manner :-)




Referring URLs
www.petigreegifts.com

First, tell the person who told you that you should have made it in tables to
take off.

Second, take a deep breath and relax

Now hear this: When you put layers <div>s onto your page, they stay exactly
where you put them unless you expressly tell them otherwise. They don't move.
They don't shift. They stay at the very precise pixel-perfect position in their
x, y & z coordinates. If they're not right in your screen, you're doing
something else wrong. If you're trying to make them center or move as the
browser resizes, there are ways to do this. Look at the SnapLayers and Layout
Designer2 (free) extensions from www.projectseven.com

Next: Clean up your page. There are positioned divs inside of tables - a huge
no no. Tables may go into divs, but positioned divs may NEVER go inside of
tables. To read the 8 layer laws, please go here:
http://www.thepattysite.com/layer_laws.cfm

Also: you have a library item in your page that has put javascript right smack
into your body tag. Not good. Remove all javascript from your library item
file. Since it's all DW stuff, DW will understand and put the correct functions
into the page w/ the library item.

Then: Remove all the invalid code, such as the table/td heights and widths.
Don't need 'em. Tables and cells shrink wrap what's inside of them. Let them
have their way or you'll be sorry.

That's all I have time for at the moment...sorry!

Web design not as easy as you thought, eh?

--
--
DiMa
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"johnny4125" <webforumsuser (AT) macromedia (DOT) com> wrote

I am a newbie and i have screwed up building my site with layers.
www.petigreegifts.com The pages arent displaying correctly in some browsers

and ive been told that its because i used layers instead of tables. How can i
fix this? I have tried using tables but i cant get pics and text in the exact
position I want them in. Im using dw4 and my site was built with a template.
Please explain in a "for dummies" manner :-)

Referring URLs
www.petigreegifts.com

"johnny4125" webforumsuser (AT) macromedia (DOT) com wrote:

I am a newbie and i have screwed up building my site with layers.
www.petigreegifts.com The pages arent displaying correctly in some
browsers and ive been told that its because i used layers instead of
tables. How can i fix this? I have tried using tables but i cant get
pics and text in the exact position I want them in. Im using dw4 and
my site was built with a template. Please explain in a "for dummies"
manner :-)




Referring URLs
www.petigreegifts.com




Layers are fine to use but like everything else you have to know their

good and bad side.

The bad side: they dont centre easily in the browser window unless you
use some advanced css-p, which is beyond my scope and by the looks of it
beyond yours as well. You can use some ready made javascript extentions
but in my opinion they are not too successful for a lot of layers.

Dont use one absolutely positioned layer (which is the kind of layer you
are using) above another, or below another, which is filled with html
text. The text in the layers will probably be different in length
according to which browser you view the site in. If this happens the
text will begin to encroach on the text in the layer/s beneath. If a
user uses the browsers text zoom facility youre in big trouble.

If I were using absoultely positioned layers I would be tempted to keep
the page flush to the left edge of the browser window. This way you wont
have to worry about centering all the layers. Even if you do manage to
centre the layers using Javascript extentions it wont be that
successful. You will see them jumping around all over the screen,
snapping into position, which looks none too professional

The good side, as you say they are far more like dtp software packages
whereby you can pull them all around the screen and position them
exactly where you require.

You pays your money you takes your choice.

Personally I would use tables to achieve what you want to achieve. Use a
generic 1 x 1 transparent pixel in adjoining table cells, to push, prop,
hold your elements into the exact position you require.