CSS/tables design question

Here's the deal:

I've experimented off and on with HTML (mostly for myself) since
around 1996. Back then, the revolution was this new thing called
"tables" that let you do actual layout on your pages.

Now, I'm thinking about trying to set up a small professional-services
site to boast about my professional prow ... er ... attract new
clients. The new literature tells me I should use CSS to set my
pages' layout and styles.

Yet, every page I call up still uses tables for layout. Most pages
use FONT tags.


Several sites purport to use some sort of browser-sniffing script to
determine which stylesheet to load (understandable), yet they persist
in these FONT tags and table-based layouts.

Still other sites (such as CNN) have pages filled with Javascripts,
and I can't comprehend what any given script is supposed to do.
Besides, I'm an editor/writer/layout guy, not a programmer.

My goal is to create fast-loading, accessible pages with a minimum of
work on my part.

Which brings me to my questions:

1) Should I use tables or CSS to layout my pages?

2) What is the most efficient combination of browser sniffers and
alternate pages?

3) What should I assume is the minimum standard that my users are
using to access the Web?

4) Is a script that loads one stylesheet for Explorer 4 and later,
another for Netscape 7 and later, and a tables page for everybody else
a good way to go?

Thanks in advance.

--JH

JWH wrote:

...

My goal is to create fast-loading, accessible pages with a minimum of
work on my part.

Which brings me to my questions:

1) Should I use tables or CSS to layout my pages?

yep - every time

2) What is the most efficient combination of browser sniffers and
alternate pages?

don't bother - you could never capture them all, and some lie anyway

3) What should I assume is the minimum standard that my users are
using to access the Web?

gsm 9.6k

4) Is a script that loads one stylesheet for Explorer 4 and later,
another for Netscape 7 and later, and a tables page for everybody else
a good way to go?

no - if you find you must support older browsers and you have used styles
which they try, and fail, to master then you can use one of several CSS
hacks to protect the poor things from themselves.
--
William Tasso - http://WilliamTasso.com

JWH wrote:

1) Should I use tables or CSS to layout my pages?

CSS

2) What is the most efficient combination of browser sniffers and
alternate pages?

http://www.w3development.de/css/hide_css_from_browsers/

3) What should I assume is the minimum standard that my users are
using to access the Web?

HTTP 1.1 + HTML 2[1]

4) Is a script that loads one stylesheet for Explorer 4 and later,
another for Netscape 7 and later, and a tables page for everybody else
a good way to go?

Probably not, but if you want to spend the time on it...

[1] Use HTML 4, but you might want to consider avoiding those things which
cause problems for older browsers (like <tfoot>), and not depending on
things which are not well supported (like <link> for navigation).

--
David Dorward http://dorward.me.uk/

In article <7f41330a.0308280708.4c6175c4 (AT) posting (DOT) google.com>,
jhertsch (AT) cox (DOT) net says...

1) Should I use tables or CSS to layout my pages?

CSS.

2) What is the most efficient combination of browser sniffers and
alternate pages?

Forget about them. They make things unnecessarily complicated and are
only useful for pixel-perfection-fetishists. You shouldn't become one of
them developing for the WWW.

3) What should I assume is the minimum standard that my users are
using to access the Web?

Hand-phones? You don't need to know the medium really if you understand
HTML. It is a language which is not covering formatting details. Go with
e.g. XHTML1 Strict if you want to support hand-phones (WAP2). HTML4
Strict is OK too. Test your site with a simpler browser like Lynx as
well, until you get used to how it will display (you can also download
the W3Cs Amaya and switch to text-display, or get Opera 7 and change
some of its accessibility settings).

4) Is a script that loads one stylesheet for Explorer 4 and later,
another for Netscape 7 and later, and a tables page for everybody else
a good way to go?

No. I would suggest simply forgetting about Netscape 4. This way you can
write much more accessible pages for all the other browsers out there.