[thelist] How important is height when using tables?

[Sarah Sweeney]

On 7/30/2004 4:33 AM Ken Schaefer wrote:
> Sure, but your point of view depends very much whether you're the
> developer, or the end user. :-)
> 
> A lot of developers would like to use newer technologies. End users
> however don't like upgrading their apps, spending time learning new
> apps and so forth. They expect whatever they have invested in to work
> from now for all eternity.

TV producers don't make their shows "compatible" with old black and 
white TVs just because some people still have them. Why should we 
produce websites for users who still have ancient (in the computer 
world) browsers?

Upgrading a browser is fairly easy to do, even for not-so-savvy computer 
users. Learning how to use the upgraded version of a browser is also not 
very difficult. Even learning a totally new browser is pretty easy, 
cause they are fairly similar in functionality and layout (if not in how 
they display web pages). Like pulling a tooth, it will hurt briefly, but 
the pain will go away, and leave the "patient" feeling much better :)

I think we should, as long as client/employer/time constraints allow us 
to, make the switch from table-based layouts to CSS-based layouts. We 
just need to make sure our pages degrade gracefully enough that users 
can easily access the content of the pages; if they don't get the 
"pretty" version of the site, too bad.

Honestly, I think all this coddling of users with older browsers is just 
holding the industry back and not doing anyone any good. It encourages 
users to not bother upgrading, and encourages (a lot of) developers to 
not bother learning new techniques.



<tip type="magnifying glass">
Check out the Virtual Magnifying Glass[0]. It allows you to magnify an 
area of your screen, which is great for troubleshooting "off-by-a-pixel" 
problems in web pages and images; you can change the size and 
magnification as well. It's also free and open source!

[0] http://magnifier.sourceforge.net/
</tip>

-- 
Sarah Sweeney
Web Developer & Programmer
Portfolio :: http://sarah.designshift.com
Blog, etc :: http://hardedge.ca