Drinking the CSS Koolaid
For the past few weeks, I've been using CSS for my layouts (at work) and I can say that I think I've officially been converted. While I still struggle with the little nuances (see previous post) - it IS starting to make sense to me.
I'm now about to start using CSS in a more involved project in which I create HTML pages and then hand them off for JSP developers to work with.
Previously, one frustrating thing that would happen in these cases is that, while HTML may seem incredibly simple to me - this is not the case for the JSP developers. We would often have many back and forths about what happend on the page when they added their JSP code. What, with all the spacer gifs, nested tables, broken graphics just to maintain the "look" - admittedly, even I would have a hard time going through the markup without a WSYWIG editor handy.
But now with this project - the idea of keeping content and layout seperate suddenly makes perfect sense. I have all my layout stuff going on in a page (i.e. the stylesheet) they won't be touching (Thank god! LOL!) And the HTML they need to work with is INCREDIBLY simple and easy to follow - especially considering the alternative.
I don't have to worry about them messing up my design. And they don't have to worry about scrolling page after page through wacky html table tricks.
Now it starts to make sense
May 6th, 2004 at 10:16 am
For me the reason I made a move to CSS was the fact that I had to write web-apps. The more HTML you have to manage from a web-app - the more problems you have.
As soon as you will prove that to your developers - the better the output will be (and they will also have some time to spare in the end).
May 6th, 2004 at 12:01 pm
For my last few projects, I've been slowly moving towards CSS and I've been getting more compliments on my work. The things you can do with CSS is amazing. You change one item, and your entire website is consistent! And also, it makes changing themes so much easier. I implemented a theme system in one of my software, so each user could view the site with their own color and font preference. I had a few stylesheets that took care of the font sizes, and a few color theme style sheets. The user was able to mix and match, and all I had to do was print out the sm-font.css, med-font.css, or lg-font.css for the font sizes. And theme-red.css, theme-blue.css, or theme-green.css for the themes.
Another project that I did was separate the content from the design. The content managers would only add text to a document, while the design was handled by me. And for the developer side, all they had to do was add their code, and I'd snead in a class = something and their page instantly becomes 'pretty.'
May 6th, 2004 at 1:33 pm
score one more for the good guys. congrats on getting it. i am working my way through css boot camp myself.
May 6th, 2004 at 5:36 pm
If you've had a hard time accepting that standards-based designs - in which content (XHTML) and style (CSS) are separated…
May 7th, 2004 at 2:39 pm
Good luck with the transition; at my workplace we've been unable to use CSS sheets for layout due to the need to cut and paste entire self-contained sections from one page to another…thus the layout is never consistent enough to support a universal stylesheet.
Still, inline CSS is better than "font" tags and supports scripting better…and we've been able to use style sheets for colors, fonts, and other window dressing quite nicely.
May 9th, 2004 at 10:44 am
Heh, I do the same in my Web Page Development class. I'm usually in charge of making the page layouts for my team, so I make a simple page with HTML and do all the good layout stuff with CSS. Most of my team has never worked with raw HTML before, and prefer to use FrontPage and/or Dreamweaver (why the heck would a Web Page class teach THOSE programs???), so I have comment tags in there like this:
<!– INSERT CONTENT MATERIAL BELOW THIS LINE –>
<!– INSERT CONTENT MATERIAL ABOVE THIS LINE –>
The html files turn out surprisingly small, and don't give my teammates the oppourtunity to mess too much of it up.
May 13th, 2004 at 3:49 am
"Now it starts to make sense"
Ah,.. (sob,..) listening to your moment of clarity almost brings a tear to the eye.
It's not quite Utopia in CSS Valley. The problems aren't gone, they're just different, but it just 'feels' clean working with XHTML/CSS layouts after a while. You feel dirty going back.
Of course, getting clients to understand the philosophy when you you hand them a WYSIWYG CMS is another matter entirely.
"But why shouldn't I keep using tables?.. And why hasn't this editor panel got a font selector?…I like Verdana, Times New Roman AND Courier!"
Hmm… well it's like his..
May 13th, 2004 at 4:43 pm
I started using css a couple years ago for positioning and adore it. I keep looking around and wondering if I'm off on a tangent or something though because no one else seems to use it!
I still use basic tables to keep the page fluid, in some cases, but a great looking page can be had with zero tables.. which are the bane of my design experience
May 17th, 2004 at 10:09 pm
The idea of having content separate from design is really heaven-sent. Aside from having cleaner code, it means people are less likely to foul up your work