Timeline for Why are so many HTML tables used in page markup?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
6 events
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| Sep 8, 2014 at 16:30 | comment | added | supercat | @Angelo: The issue wasn't just that CSS was "frustrating"; it has historically been incapable of doing many things which were pretty easy with tables. Something simple like a main-text-plus-sidebar layout, where the sidebar would be 10% of the available width, but at least 140px wide (the width of a particular logo graphic), would be easy with a table [IIRC, set the table width to 100%, leave the main-column width unspecified and set the width of the sidebar column to 10%; the column width would go above 10% if needed to accommodate a 140px graphic]). When could CSS first do that? | |
| Sep 15, 2011 at 14:48 | comment | added | SF. | There used to be "interpretations" of the box model where the tables were the only way. E.g. the FORM element could not be styled but still generated a box (with default margin/padding) in IE. The only way to get rid of the extra space was to squeeze FORM between TABLE and TR. Totally against the standard, but the only way that worked. | |
| Sep 15, 2011 at 14:27 | comment | added | Angelo | I can't help but think that CSS could have been so much simpler. IMHO this unnecessary complexity and the lack of a "pixel perfect" reference implementation has lead to poor/inconsistent implementations by browser vendors, leading to a whole generation of web-developers "not getting it". | |
| Sep 15, 2011 at 14:04 | comment | added | AJC | +1 for "get work done". I am a developer, not a ui designer. I can certaintly design a functional, somewhat attractive ui, but it will take me MUCH longer than it would a UI designer. What would I give for a guy on my team who just designed the templates and styles so I wouldnt have to worry about that. | |
| Sep 15, 2011 at 13:47 | history | edited | Angelo | CC BY-SA 3.0 | added 85 characters in body |
| Sep 15, 2011 at 13:31 | history | answered | Angelo | CC BY-SA 3.0 |