At 03:55 PM 11/4/2005, Tony wrote: >Angela Trigg wrote: > > can someone give me a reason to stick it out > > given all the hacks you have to do, etc? > >eventually you'll discover the power of CSS - to take semantic (x)html >and lay it out one way or another in minutes, to make a minor change >across the whole site in seconds, to get faster downloading pages and >better search engine results and greater and wider accessibility. > >but first you have to start *designing* with CSS in mind, rather than >from a tables viewpoint.
Very well put, Tony. Thinking semanticly is a tough hurdle for many, although in retrospect it seems so obvious. Furthermore, those who were trained in the print world have an additional obstacle, it is very much the difference between watercolors and oil; as similar as they look, they are strikingly different media. A book that really helped me was "Bulletproof Web Design", by Dan Cederholm. I've also started developing in Firefox, and then testing in IE, since IE is too forgiving of errors. Firefox has some great extensions. I love its integration with the CSE Source Validator, and have found the "view formatted source" module invaluable, since it points out the various levels of inheritance. The "web developer" extensions allow you to outline block and table elements. I develop under Windows, and recommend the Top Style CSS editor for improved productivity. Another good book is the one about Zen Garden, where they deconstruct some of their style designs. It has lots of useful tips, and helps demystify much of CSS. Good luck, you're going to love CSS. And remember, in cyberspace nobody can hear you scream. <g> ______________________________________________________________________ css-discuss [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.css-discuss.org/mailman/listinfo/css-d List wiki/FAQ -- http://css-discuss.incutio.com/ Supported by evolt.org -- http://www.evolt.org/help_support_evolt/
