[thelist] CSS Form layout and form types

[Tom Dell'Aringa]

> Tom Dell'Aringa said:
> > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> > I posed the question of whether or not it is
> > possible to do difficult forms with lots of rows
> > and columns with pure CSS > and/or no tables. I've
> > come to the conclusion its impossible to do - but
> > I'd like to see someone prove me wrong!
> > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

> RUST Randal <RRust at COVANSYS.com> wrote:
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> FWIW, I have been able to create a 2-column form-layout with CSS.
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Where is it? :) (I too have done multi-column forms using divs and
floats and they have had some problems.)

> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> I would argue that if the form is so complex as to require multiple
> columns, then it needs to be restructured:) So I guess the question
> here is what you consider to be a *difficult form.*
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Heh, this could probably erupt into a holy war - it's that type of
topic. Quick example: I'm contracting for a client building an
application. One page deals with the type of inks one might use for a
print job, along with lots of other details about paper and so on.
The form probably has close to 100 elements. Am I going to make this
form one, long column? Not going to happen! Most of the parts of this
page are 2-3 columns, row by row.

Can this form be simplified? No, it can't. All the information is
required and essential. Can it be broken up into more forms?
Possibly, but even breaking it up into 3 forms would give you 30-40
items per form - and the user really needs to see it all on one page.

I'm sure we've all come across stuff like this. Now, how do you code
that in CSS - with no tables? I say, you can't. I want to see someone
do it if it can be done though :)

I also don't see a problem with intelligently using tables in such a
case. And I DO use plenty of CSS to separate the style from the
content in the form.

Comments?

Tom

=====
>^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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