Java Development Blog

There are  two good ways to build a web site either by using table (Table design) or using CSS design layout. Both layouts have merits and demerits and perform in a different manner. They lift accessibility issues also.

This article will point out the good and bad of table layout and css layout (tableless) and also lists the advantages and disadvantages

TABLE-based layouts

Tables are used for designing the website for a very long time. Even today, with the huge number of browsers available, many compatibility and accessibility issues rise to the surface. All these issues must be solved in order to ensure a web site is compactable one to all type users including those using alternate browsers.

Facts about web sites using tables

· Using table, it  easy to create the skeleton of website

· Using FrontPage and Dream weaver make it very easy for developers to include tables.

· Tables may “break” on different browsers thus produce  problems in the layout

· The number of html code will be huge because numbers of tables may be there in a template

· Once the design is completed, it is difficult to edit when compared to the css design

· Decrease the SEO ranking and downloading speed because of the huge number of code

Up to now the table based design is used for all kind of website whether it contains a huge content or not. The main problem with the table based design for both developers and users is browser compatibility. There are different kinds of browsers, and in order to make the site browser independent, developer need to test with all type browsers in all versions.

Tables and accessibility problems

For disabled(physically unfit users) who use browsers such as screen readers, speech out browsers, braille browsers and text browsers, alternate browse method can prove to be miserable when the try to access a table based design.

In alternate browser the content is given to the user by reading the code line by line .In table based architecture the code written is cell based .For example cell 1 and cell 3 are for the navigation menu and cell2 and cell 4 contain the content .While the alternative browser interprets this page the user cannot under stand what the site contains.

CSS-based layouts

CSS or Cascading Style Sheets are used mainly for text alignment but now developers started using it for layouts and positioning. Css design is still very difficult and time consuming to implement but once it implemented the advantages are worth for all the effort taken.

Facts about CSS layouts

· Supported by all the new browsers but some problems with older version.

· Extreme flexibility in positioning

· Increases usability by liquid design

· Html code will be reduced increasing the  downloading speed

· Displays the content first and then the images

By flexibility provided by the css design, developers can create layouts easily that are independent of the screen size. The main advantage of table less design is that by changing .css file one can completely change the look and feel of the site, making it perfectly fit for screen or printing. CSS provide high positioning option so that the content can be placed at the top of the source code. By this way when the page loads it makes the information to display first leaving the images and other parts to later. This proves better for the slow speed network because the user need not want to wait for the entire page to load.

Increasing accessibility through CSS

Graphic intense sites prove inaccessible to disabled users. CSS can put good work by placing all these elements at the bottom of the source code. So that, normal browsers will read the layout correctly for normal users showing the way it is, allowing them enjoy the site features while alternate browsers can easily deliver the basic, informational about the page to disabled users.