Kirsty
Fri 20 Apr 2007
This past week I’ve been working on the complete overhaul of an old site and I’ve decided to break free from my usual same old template and try something new for a change.
This has meant attempting to move away from using my beloved tables to lay out the site, instead opting for a bit of CSS. Not knowing anything but the basics, this has been a bit of a challenge but I think I’m slowly pulling it off and learning how powerful CSS really is.
Using tables, I’d be able to hammer out a site layout in a matter of hours. With CSS because I’m still learning, it’s taking a lot longer and I’m still tweaking things a week after starting. But the thing with CSS is that I have a greater feel of control and flexibility than ever before so I don’t feel like I have to nail the design straight off the bat. If I get sick of it, I can easily tweak little things here and there or even change the entire look with little effort. I’m still learning so I think my CSS file is unnecessarily long and unruly but that’s something I can go back to later once I learn more about it.
I think the more I use it the more I’ll see what it’s capable of so, like the design junky I am, I’m kinda looking forward to learning more. CSS - it’s the way forward!!
April 20th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
CSS can be as frustrating as it can be sexy.
I used to work with a guy who was a CSS freak.
I remember him coming back after lunch with a huge book on CSS 2.0 and telling me he was taking it on holiday with him.
April 20th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
CSS is the way. It cleans up your php/html files nicely and makes it so much easier to enter new content / links etc.
And Webby, what’s wrong with taking programming books on holiday? ;D
http://images.travelpod.com/users/stevejames/rtw2005.1123729200.dscf0905.jpg
April 20th, 2007 at 1:20 pm
Kirsty, every single web designer/developer I know, myself included, went through that phase when first learning CSS. You think to yourself, “Damn this’d be so much easier with tables!”
Then one day, you get past the steep learning curve and it all just clicks and makes sense. You suddenly realize how much easier everything is with CSS. And it is *much* easier.
I’m routinely handed table-based code from web developers. It might be 100 lines of tables to get all the positioning right, etc. With CSS, I’m able to scrap everything and cut it down to 10% of what they had already written. It’s incredibly powerful.
One last thing - you can see the real power of CSS when you start getting into Wordpress blogs. You can change the entire theme of your site - graphics, colors, positioning of elements, etc. - by only changing the CSS. You never have to touch the HTML. Take that, Tables!
April 22nd, 2007 at 5:58 am
I haven’t touched it for a while. I find the whole design thing so frustrating. You get something looking good in FF and in IE it is totally messed up, not to mention IE7.
April 23rd, 2007 at 2:29 am
IE7 is the most horrible browser I have ever seen. I totally agree with you Mike about IE in general.
April 23rd, 2007 at 3:44 pm
I just checked my new design in FF and only one little thing is screwy that should (famous last words) be easy to fix with the help of Digitalpoint.
I have to admit that having everything floating around seemingly willy nilly still scares me a bit so I have a table for the header, and a three column table for the content. Old habits die hard I guess but everything else seems aligned.
I’m really happy with it all so far and looking forward to learning more. Sadly, I can defiantely see myself sitting in a hammock sifting through the pages of a CSS or other computer book, you’re not alone Steve!
May 1st, 2007 at 10:49 am
Two questions:
What is the best fastest way to get up to speed on CSS? I think I need to make the change. Or do I? I use an automated kind of menu system for navigation and all I have to do is update it and it changes on all my pages without having to mess with each page.
Also - does CSS get rid of the problem with differences between FF and IE? I tend to pay more attention to IE as about 95% of my visitors are IE - though I do try to sort out the FF kinks (when I can figure them out!).