[thelist] CSS Question

[Mark Howells]

>>> Let's assume that 1% of users are visiting their website with that
>>> browser. Is the value of using CSS for positioning really more
>>> valuable to a company than creating accessable pages to that 1% of
>>> its population?
>>
>> That depends on your definition of accessible. If a site is put
>> together using tables and 1px spacer gifs, it's likely to be
>> inaccessible (or at least dreadful or unusable) in a text browser or
>> in a browser with images turned off. That's before we even start
>
> i disagree... using tables and 1px spacer .gifs does *not* automatically mean
> a site is inaccessible...
>
> CSS does *not* automatically mean a site will be accessible...

I didn't say that -- I said that the majority of people who are still coding
with tables and spacer gifs in GoLive aren't likely to make their sites
"accessible". The comment I made rebutted the earlier post that in order to
make a site accessible, the poster was using tables rather than CSS.

> somehow i've been able to build accessible sites for *years* using tabled
> layouts for blind and physically handicapped users that conform to levels A
> through AAA of the WAI -- all tabled layouts...

Good, but I suspect that you're an example of the minority.

> i actually get more bang for the buck with a tabled layout because i get a
> consistent look across *all* browsers (and a lot of disabled users use old
> browsers because they got them to *work* with their add-on apps), which
> actually equates to better browser support than the CSS-only layout that
> shuts out pre 5.x browsers...

If a site shuts out users because of the CSS it employs, then it's poorly
designed.

[snip]

> IOW, depending on your coding skills, make the decision... you can still write
> valid HTML using tabled layouts, and you can still make your pages linearize
> with tabled layouts...  if you go the CSS route, do it by hand, don't use DW
> or
> anything that prevents you from seeing when your content is in the wrong
> order in your code, meaning it won't linearize well...

A well-observed comment, which highlights the fact that if you use a WYSIWYG
then you should be checking the results it spews out. There's nothing wrong
with using a tool to help you create a site, but it's a mistake not to check
the output.

Regards
Mark Howells
<http://www.mark.ac/evl/>