Looking for table vs. css ideas

I am developing a site for someone that looks like this...
http://www.echowebservices.com/develop/sample.gif

I can not decide if I should stick with tables because it is such a simple
design and the content will never be enough to overload the table loading
process, or to use strictly css or a combo of both.

What I was thinking was a combo of say this...

<div class="sitecolor">Insert header logo here</div>
<div id = "content">
Insert a table to hold the structure of the portal look
</div>
<div class="sitecolor">& n b sp </div>

.sitecolor{ bgcolor: xxx; width:100%; height:xxx;}
#content {width:100%}
table cell styles to accomplish left and right justified text.

OR

just use a large table with three rows and a nested table for the portal look.

OR use css all the way to create the look.

Any ideas or suggestions? I am open to try new things
Thanks!
Chris

My advice is always the same: Use the simplest, easiest, cleanest approach
that does what you need it to do. Don't complicate life for no good reason.
There is no "best" way, only what's best for you and your client. And don't
forget to wash behind your ears, get plenty of sleep, and look both ways
before crossing the street.

MD


cluksha wrote:

I am developing a site for someone that looks like this...
http://www.echowebservices.com/develop/sample.gif

I can not decide if I should stick with tables because it is such a
simple design and the content will never be enough to overload the
table loading process, or to use strictly css or a combo of both.

What I was thinking was a combo of say this...

div class="sitecolor">Insert header logo here</div
div id = "content"
Insert a table to hold the structure of the portal look
/div
div class="sitecolor">& n b sp </div

.sitecolor{ bgcolor: xxx; width:100%; height:xxx;}
#content {width:100%}
table cell styles to accomplish left and right justified text.

OR

just use a large table with three rows and a nested table for the
portal look.

OR use css all the way to create the look.

Any ideas or suggestions? I am open to try new things
Thanks!
Chris

Maybe one of the reasons I am having a hard time deciding is that I need the
redwood in the center to float to the center all the time and the text to stay
relative to it no matter where it stands.

One of the problems I am having using a table for the portal look is that the
right hand nav items never actually go fluch left to the image. I have
attempted both float: left and text-align:left, to no avail.

Any ideas?
Thanks again all.
Chris

So what you're trying to accomplish is a 3 column centered fixed-width
design. It's doable in CSS (check sites like Glish, etc. for examples)
but if you're having lots of problems with it, that's a good sign that
you should revert to tables.

If you want to keep a semblence of semantics to a tabular layout, you
could do a two column table for the nav items, and just apply the
redwood as a background image to the table.

HTHs,
Josh

cluksha wrote:

Maybe one of the reasons I am having a hard time deciding is that I need the
redwood in the center to float to the center all the time and the text to stay
relative to it no matter where it stands.

One of the problems I am having using a table for the portal look is that the
right hand nav items never actually go fluch left to the image. I have
attempted both float: left and text-align:left, to no avail.

Any ideas?
Thanks again all.
Chris

To improve upon that, Or simply add more annoyance
What I am really attempting to do is a 3 column fixed width table (centered)
and surrounded by a top and bottom border, like this
http://css.maxdesign.com.au/floatuto...torial0916.htm, But I want the top
and bottom, STUCK to the top and bottom of the page.

Does that make sense?

cluksha wrote:

To improve upon that, Or simply add more annoyance
What I am really attempting to do is a 3 column fixed width table
(centered) and surrounded by a top and bottom border, like this
http://css.maxdesign.com.au/floatuto...torial0916.htm, But I
want the top and bottom, STUCK to the top and bottom of the page.

Click the Float Tutorial link at the top of that page and read it :-)


Having a header stuck to the top is a piece of cake. Having it stick to
the bottom requires several complex hacks. I would consider having it
position based upon the amount of content on the page - much less acid
indigestion.

--
Al Sparber - PVII
http://www.projectseven.com
DW Extensions - Menu Systems - Tutorials - CSS FastPacks
---------------------------------------------------------
Webdev Newsgroup: news://forums.projectseven.com/pviiwebdev/
CSS Newsgroup: news://forums.projectseven.com/css/
RSS/XML Feeds: http://www.projectseven.com/xml/

Ok, so here it is....

http://www.echowebservices.com/develop/

I don't have anything at the moment but IE6 (Just reformatted) can anyone
tell me some oddities they are seeing?

I know it is odd when you get to a lowere resolution, but I ma under orders to
build for 1024 and up.

Thanks!
Chris

I second Al's suggestion. You're looking for a world of hurt otherwise,
or worse yet you'll have to revert to using the "F" word... frames!

By having them on either end of your content, you can just define them
as basic block-level elements (like DIVs), with no fuss, no muss.

- Josh

Al Sparber- PVII wrote:

Having a header stuck to the top is a piece of cake. Having it stick to
the bottom requires several complex hacks. I would consider having it
position based upon the amount of content on the page - much less acid
indigestion.

Her eis where it's getting, but it is very problematic if you resize the screen....

http://www.echowebservices.com/develop/

"cluksha" <webforumsuser (AT) macromedia (DOT) com> wrote

Maybe one of the reasons I am having a hard time deciding is that I need the
redwood in the center to float to the center all the time and the text to stay
relative to it no matter where it stands.

One of the problems I am having using a table for the portal look is that the
right hand nav items never actually go fluch left to the image. I have
attempted both float: left and text-align:left, to no avail.

Any ideas?
Thanks again all.
Chris

Chris,
How about making an image of the portal and text, then make an image
map for your nav links. The image could be put in the middle of a
100% width table. That way it will always be in the center of the
screen, but the relationship between the text and the portal image
won't change.

Craigtb