
Table-Based Layout Is The Next Big Thing - rglullis
http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2008/02/28/table-based-layout-is-the-next-big-thing/
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mdaines
Obviously this sort of thing is an improvement over all the various
contortions one must do to achieve that w/o "css tables"... nesting and
negative margins and what-have-you, but I feel like using "display:table-cell"
obscures the designer's intent, kind of. That sample layout isn't a table,
it's a layout.

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illicium
Exactly--tables (CSS or otherwise) are meant for _tabular_ data, like you
would see in a spreadsheet, not page layouts. And if you want to use a table,
the semantic way is to use a <table> tag, not a <div> or something else
disguising as one.

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tim2
Do what the committees and bloggers tell you to, you must obey!

Does restricting yourself to using tables just for tabular data make html
coding easier, faster, or more readable? No, it doesn't.

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trevelyan
I love you tim2. Or maybe I'm just fed up at people who never have to deal
with cross-browser design getting uppity about someone using a table tag to
ensure consistent display.

Either way, you're right. Lack of cross-browser consistency in CSS display
support (vertical centering anyone?) is what makes implementing tables in CSS
a living nightmare.

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Tichy
Somehow that really hurts. I know it is probably a good thing, but why not
just use table, instead of redefining other elements to be tables?

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brlewis
You aren't redefining other elements. You're styling other elements such that
they're laid out as tabular data would be, without having to redefine them as
tabular data.

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nickb
Next big thing? Maybe in 5-7 years when we finally stop supporting IE6/7.
Until then, all these CSS3 tricks will be for hobby sites only.

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sosuke
The only reason I find this remotely interesting is that it stands a chance of
giving table-layout loving folks no excuse to move to CSS layouts. On the
other side I find it a shady under-handed not fully cross-browser supported
and not backwards compatible way of making a table-layout without making a
table.

Comments on the site devolved into tables vs css so I didn't read too far
down.

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technoguyrob
About freaking time.

