To add to Stephen's description of what a float is the closes HTML analogy is "align". Basically allows text wrapping.
Another site to look at for CSS layouts but this time featuring current live sites is http://cssvault.com/ Cheryl D. Wise Certified Professional Web Developer MS-MVP-FrontPage www.wiserways.com mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 713.353.0139 Office -----Original Message----- From: Stephen Caudill > Oh so many of the floats I have seen move around with scrolling, or > change shape and/or position as the page downloads (maybe not only a > box problem, but encouraged by the technique). I think you're unclear on what a float is. Maybe it's an issue of terminology, but it sounds like you're talking more about the liquid width layouts than floats. So, first a definition: <quote src="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/visuren.html#floats";> 9.5 Floats A float is a box that is shifted to the left or right on the current line. The most interesting characteristic of a float (or "floated" or "floating" box) is that content may flow along its side (or be prohibited from doing so by the 'clear' property)... </quote> I will presume you mean liquid layouts (correct me if I'm wrong). Again, what you've said of liquid CSS layouts is just as true of liquid table based layouts. The premise is the same. You have a portion of the screen which stretches to fit the available area. Content reflow is going to behave precisely the same regardless. In fact here's a demo page: http://mechavox.com/sandbox/squishy.html > So I am not just asking for adivce and help on how to go about it (I > am already sold on css itself) but for a part of the discussion MOU > referred to: can I make this new (to me anyway) method as flexible in > different sized bowsers as I can make tables (visually comfortable is > what I mean) without suffering a fluidity that ageing and imperfect > eyes will find uncomfortable? Well, I can't speak on the matter of what is and is not easy on the eyes, but I can say with much certainty that you may not only find as much flexibility, but much more with CSS layouts. Here's a good example: http://www.csszengarden.com/?cssfile=/063/063.css&page=0 Try changing your font size on that page. > At the moment I am planning to stay with tables for my redesign (if I > ever get it done!!!) but I could still be convinced that I shouldn't; > but it is viewr experience I am concerned with. In respect to viewer experience: By laying out with CSS, you allow more viewers to experience your site. A semantically coded, valid site, with separated presentation goes a long way to being accessible by default. This means more user agents (PDA's, cell phones, braille and screen readers, web-enabled toilets, etc.) can get your content in an easily digested format. That, to me, *is* good viewer experience. > Sorry to go on at length, but I think this is an important aspect. So do I :) Here's another tidbit for your thinking cap. You've got one customer that's (arguably) more important than any other. And it's blind. The web spider. It likes to have high "content-to-markup" ratio's. An easy way to achieve that is by having all of your presentation separated out into a single external file that the spider doesn't care about... your css. Add to that, semantically appropriate markup that gives spiders hints as to which pieces of text in a page should be considered important and you'll be well on your way to good search engine placement. okay, I'm done. someone put the soap box away for me. I need a smoke. ____ • The WDVL Discussion List from WDVL.COM • ____ To Join wdvltalk, Send An Email To: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Send Your Posts To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To set a personal password send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the words: "set WDVLTALK pw=yourpassword" in the body of the email. To change subscription settings to the wdvltalk digest version: http://wdvl.internet.com/WDVL/Forum/#sub ________________ http://www.wdvl.com _______________________ You are currently subscribed to wdvltalk as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe via postal mail, please contact us at: Jupitermedia Corp. Attn: Discussion List Management 475 Park Avenue South New York, NY 10016 Please include the email address which you have been contacted with.
