[WEB4LIB] RE: CSS vs. Tables

[John W. Chapman]

The Section 508 rule, part 1194.22, paragraph D (see 
http://egov.oregon.gov/DAS/508main.shtml and www.section508.gov for more 
information) is designed to prevent information that is critical to proper 
understanding of a document being communicated only through style sheets. 
If a user has a personal style sheet that overrides the use of one on your 
site, then emphasis conveyed strictly through text styles or sizes on YOUR 
style sheet might be removed.

The overall point is that style sheets should be relied on only for 
presentation and not for conveying shades of meaning.

Having said that, CSS-based layout has the potential for fairly complex 
markup that may divide up text into groupings that may seem confusing to 
the user who does not have the appropriate style sheet. In those cases, 
following the other Section 508 guidelines regarding the use of explicitly 
labeled elements should improve readability.

-John
___________________________________________________
John W. Chapman               chapm157 at umn.edu
Metadata Librarian            Phone: (612) 626-4204
                               160 Wilson Library
Technical Services            309 19th Avenue South
Univ. of Minnesota Libraries  Minneapolis, MN 55455
---------------------------------------------------
At 12:29 PM 3/9/2005, you wrote:
>Saarah,
>
>Since you are thinking about designing web site with out using much
>tables (of course, you can use tables to show data, but not for layout),
>you may want to consider skimming through these 2 books,
>
>1. The CSS Anthology: 101 Essential Tips, Tricks & Hacks, some sample
>chapters are at http://www.sitepoint.com/books/cssant1/cssant1-sample.pdf
>2. Designing with out tables, using CSS, some sample chapters are at
>http://www.sitepoint.com/books/css1/htmlutopia.pdf
><javascript:ol('http://www.sitepoint.com/books/css1/htmlutopia.pdf');>
>
>In book2, they mentioned some web sites such as
>http://www.alistapart.com/ http://espn.go.com/, http://www.sitepoint.com
>used CSS page layout.
>
>These are useful books, however one thing makes me think is, 508
>guideline "Documents shall be organized so they are readable without
>requiring an associated style sheet", I haven't find answer to that
>question in these books. (?)
>
>Good luck,
>Vishwam
>
>--
>Vishwam Annam
>Web Developer
>Library Computing Services
>120 Paul Laurence Dunbar Library
>3640 Colonel Glenn Hwy.
>Dayton, Oh 45435
>Office: 937-775-3262
>FAX 937-775-2356
>
>
>
>Brandon Dennis wrote:
>
> >Sarah -
> >
> >There are two primary benefits (plenty of minor ones too :) to switching
> >to a CSS design as opposed to a table design:
> >1.  For consistency and ease of coordinating design, CSS separates
> >content from presentation.  So if your patrons (or boss) don't like the
> >font, you can change it across the board with one or two lines (as
> >opposed to going through every file).  As well as most other
> >presentation decisions.
> >2.  Using Style Sheets (and separating presentation from content) means
> >that the browser only has to load the .css file that those pages use
> >once.  It *will* just use the same presentation once it's loaded.  So if
> >you are interested for a honest comparison, you would need to strip all
> >the HTML files on your site and then compare the total size.  Usually,
> >even if a visitor only goes to a couple of pages, it makes up for the
> >difference.  And if it doesn't, for a variety of other reasons, it's
> >worth the difference to have converted your site to CSS.
> >
> >Best of luck!  (I'm getting ready to do the same thing)
> >Brandon
> >
> >
> >       -----Original Message-----
> >       From: Smith, Sarah [mailto:sarah.smith at fresnolibrary.org]
> >       Sent: Fri 3/4/2005 5:00 PM
> >       To: Multiple recipients of list
> >       Cc:
> >       Subject: [WEB4LIB]
> >
> >
> >
> >       I'm tinkering around with converting a website from a table
> >layout to a
> >       div layout, and I've managed to get identical appearance. The
> >div and
> >       table based html files are identical in line length, and the CSS
> >file
> >       for the div based layout is longer than the CSS file for table
> >based
> >       layout. I only noticed because I ran a "Speed Report" from the
> >Firefox
> >       Web Developer's toolbar and it said my CSS file was twice the
> >       recommended size.
> >       My question is: does/should separating content from layout
> >reduce the
> >       number of lines of coding needed? Size of files? Etc...
> >       TIA,
> >       Sarah A Smith
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >



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