Michael Landis wrote:
>On 7/10/06, Emily Ellis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>
>>Hello Everyone,
>>
>>I have used style sheets for a while for formatting text and that sort of
>>thing. I am now experimenting with using it for positioning. I'm not
>>getting how to do this without spending a lot of time in trial and
>>error—shifting a few pixels this way and that. Is it possible to design a
>>site on paper and then type in the positions and its there? Or is this
>>trial and error necessary? My question is about procedure. What process do I
>>use to integrate this into Web site development?
>>
>>
>Hi, Emily,
>
>Perhaps one of the biggest challenges with CSS is not just how to
>position stuff, but also what techniques to use for positioning.
>
>There are three basic ways to position stuff [...]
>[...]
>[...]
>
>
Hi Emily,
Some general notes to the detailed reply of Michael.
"Is it possible to design a site on paper and then type in the positions
and its there?"
Yes: if you know exactly what conditions for web presentation have to be
included in your paper model.
No: in all other cases.
Why not? A paper is a fixed thing, everything can be exactly positioned
in (1/10) mm. *Nothing can be changed* by the material or the user after
you are ready with your design.
A web page is living on a screen of a computer: and screens, computers
and users are different.
* Screens: for instance the resolution can be different (and the
relation width-height).
* Computers: the operating system (Windows, Linux, ...) and the
browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, text-browser, ...)
have important influence on the way the page is rendered on screen.
* Users: visitors of a web page can set their preferences (other
scaling of the font size, other colors, other fonts), adapt the
window size, use a history or other sidebar, and so on. That's
democratic, the client is the king!
So: on screen, *"everything" can be changed* after you are ready with
your design.
Therefore your design has to get enough degrees of freedom to show a
good looking and accessible page under different conditions (which you
cannot influence).
That means: everything fixed in the page is impossible. Containing boxes
must have the possibility to grow and shrink (if the font is scaled by
the visitor, if a different window size, if ...), the relationship
between containing boxes has to be flexible as well, and much more.
That's the challenge! :-)
And to make it not to easy: browsers are more (Firefox, Opera, ...) or
less (Internet Explorer) obedient to the w3c standards for html and css,
and browsers have more (Internet Explorer) or less (Firefox, Opera, ...)
strange bugs which need workarounds.
Approach (the more complex and sophisticated the design, the more needed):
Testing html, testing css, testing different resolutions, testing
different font scaling, testing different browsers, ... testing -
testing - testing!
Conclusion: starting with the top element on your site, testing each new
element on building the site is the life belt.
And to end some more hopefully: as time goes on, the experience to solve
problems is growing! ;-)
Google, online tutorials, wiki's and this list are on your side. :-)
Greetings,
francky
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