[thelist] Not using tables for layout

[Stephen Rider]

On Jun 28, 2004, at 4:39 AM, chris at martiantechnologies.com wrote:

> Your solution (whilst very welcome) doesn't seen semantic, as the 
> container DIVs in the nest have no semantic meaning.

Obviously you know more about it than I do, but there is no way for me 
to know that without knowing the content.  :)  :)  There certainly 
_could_ be a page wherein that structure would be perfectly logical 
semantically.  That was why I was asking to see the content, as 
semantics are by definition determined by the information and language 
being used.

> In addition, the grid structure will not be maintained if any content 
> stretches a single cell horizontally.

Again, not sure what you're doing, but it sounds almost like what 
you're doing truly is tabular data, in which case a table _should_ be 
used.  Sometimes seeing it visually can suggest non-obvious ways of 
structuring things. For example, is there actual text in all of these 
cells or are some of them decorative elements?  Is something 
essentially a sidebar?  And so forth and so on.

Another possibility would be to use divs with wrap set in certain ways 
that would essentially emulate frames?  (I forget the CSS off the top 
of me head)

I guess I'm having a hard time imagining non-tabular data that would 
absolutely require  such a layout.  I'm very curious all of a sudden.  
:)

I'm not so opposed to using a table for basic layout if it can't be 
avoided -- the problems generally come into play more when a design 
involves table nested five deep!  Using one table for the rough layout 
is probably a misdemeanor, not a felony!

Good Luck,
Steve