Modern web-site design using css
Although it is not visible when a page is opened, there are two different ways to develop a page on the Internet:
- Design using tables
- Design using cascading style sheets, css
Pages developed either way can appear the same to the visitor, but technically and for the search-engines there is a big difference. Although there are no fixed rules on the Internet, the standards dictate that since a few years, web-sites should be designed using css.
History
When the Internet was just beginning it was difficult to present the information that the designer wanted: The language used to construct web-pages – html – was not suitable to make complex presentations. To position elements like texts and images at specific locations on a web-page, the designer had to use tables where every cell of the table and its contents could be placed where the designer wanted.
This method had a great disadvantage: The design and the content of the page were mixed in a single file representing the web-page. To change the design, the whole page had to be changed – and every page in a web-site – and the page was a lot bigger because of all the codes that dictated the design. Apart from that, the page did not show until the whole table was loaded.
The last disadvantage of this method is that the content of the page is buried in a huge page with lots of code defining the design. The page takes a longer time to load because of the size and it is more difficult for the search-engines to find the content of the page; perhaps a search-engine does not even get to the content because it only reads a limited part of the page and the content is located below all the codes dictating the design.
Design using css
A web-page designed using cascading style sheets - css - is the solution to all problems described with tables. In short it means that the content of the page and its design are separated; the web-page itself consists of pure content and the design is located in a separate file, the css file.
Basically the page is made up of information blocks. A typical page is a page with the following blocks: A header, a menu (for example on the left), a block with the main contents and a footer as shown in the image.
Without the design – the css file – these blocks are just different paragraphs, one after another, but when we apply the style from the external style sheet, the same page can be presented any way we want. We can manipulate the presentation by styling every block exactly the way we want it.
Now we have a page which consists of pure content and menus. The size of the page is small, it loads fast and it is a jewel for the search-engines. If we want to change the design in the future it is easy, we just need to change the external style sheet and all pages in the web-site will adapt accordingly.
Conclusion
It is bad practice to design a modern web-page using tables: Tables make a page a lot bigger than it should be and it is very difficult to change the design afterwards. It is also more difficult for the search-engines to find the content of the page. Using cascading style sheets to develop web-pages avoids these problems.
There are still many Internet development companies in Peru making web-sites using tables, but for the development of a modern web-site it is important to insist on css. All web-sites developed the last couple of years by Jeronimo Design DDS use css for the design.
It is not hard to distinguish pages designed with css from pages designed using tables: A look at the source code of the page shows it all: When there are a lot of elements like <table>, <tr> and <td>, the page is designed using tables. When there mainly elements like <div> and a lot of the content shows, the page is designed using css. For example the page you are reading, is designed using css but the same page designed using tables you can see here: Article about css in page using tables.
Please contact Jeronimo Design DDS if you have any questions about this article.
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