As a web designer, I try and keep up to date on the latest web design techniques that are being used across the internet. When I started designing, it was all about using 1 big logo, 3 frames, and filling up the space with as much useless content as I could imagine! My how the times have changed. Now a days, frames are out, mainly because of their lack of search engine optimization features. The more popular sites are either designed using tables or CSS as a framework. So what’s the big deal? Don’t they accomplish the same thing? CSS seems like a pain to learn anyway, so why not just stick with tables? Well, that’s what I thought at first. But boy oh boy was I ever mistaken!

Table For One?

So, tables. Easy to learn, implement and debug. When I first started using tables, I thought to myself, well, if this is all there is to creating a website, I’m good to go. The basis to any table structure is simple. It consists of an outer table with 1 or more rows and columns within. It certainly is not hard to get the hang of designing a site that revolves around a table structure. There’s very little that can go wrong, and anything that does, you can usually figure out within a few minutes of staring at it. If you’re new to web design or if you simply just want to get someone out on the internet, tables are the way to go. There are dozens of sites that offer tutorials on how to create a site using tables and incorporating other applicable HTML tags. Of course, once you get into it, you start fiddling around with table attributes, like setting a background image, aligning content left and right, even adjusting the vertical position of text. There’s definitely a lot cool stuff that you can do with tables to control the visual feel of your site. So if its such a good thing and so easy to use, who needs CSS? Let me tell you, about 3 weeks ago, I would have said the same thing. Now, having designed a fully CSS structured layout, my opinion has changed drastically.

And then there was CSS

A few months ago, I was looking at a site that impressed me to the point that I had to take a gander at the code. Now, bare in mind, I had seen CSS layouts before and I knew about them, but this site used aspects of CSS that I had never seen before. It had a cool looking menu that, to my surprise, was created by Macromedia Fireworks or some other hoity toity web design application. No, this was done by pure CSS. That’s when I first got interested in the CSS framework. It was until very recently that I came to the realization that more and more website were using CSS, at least the websites that I found to look cool and inspiring. I couldn’t stand it anymore, I had to have my own CSS layout. Easy right? Nope! Learning CSS is definitely not as simple as applying table tags. There are no easy attributes to apply and fixing small bugs can take a little longer than expected. I thought to myself, why bother with this? I’ll just stick to tables. But you know me, I was back at it 5 minutes later. After weeks of looking at CSS designed sites and tutorials galore, I finally picked up on the design style. I do stress, weeks! Okay, more like 1 week and half. CSS was not something that I could pick up overnight and unless you’re an absolute genius, it will take you a few tries to adapt to it as well.

At the end of the day, it’s worth the struggle. The control that you have over every aspect of your website is astounding. You definitely get a feel for what it’s like to build a “complete” website, top to bottom, because if you build a CSS layout, that’s exactly what you have to do, design a site from top to bottom. There are no guidelines, no attributes, just you defining how things look and where they are placed. I fell in love with features like controlling borders; you can define the type of border, the color, which border to display (top, bottom, right or left). Controlling the positioning of things, what happens when you hover over something, every little aspect of the website. Yes indeed, I’m a converted man!

The final say?

Choose CSS! Ok, let me quickly elaborate as to why. At least for me, CSS allowed me to design things and apply features that, before, I used to rely on Macromedia to do. Little did I realize that all of this time, I could have done these things myself. Learning CSS definitely makes you a more confident web designer and teaches you more about all the different tricks and effects you can apply to your site to make it stand out from the rest. Tables are still cool! Let me stress that I’ll always be a fan of the ease of use that tables bring. But if you’re looking to step out of the box and discover something different, CSS is definitely the way to go. I’m convinced that it will soon become the standard design type for websites in the future. There is increasing support in the form of tutorials and forums for CSS design, and you’ll wonder how you ever did without it. Once you are a pro at designing with tables, I would urge you to push yourself to learn the art of CSS. As it did for me, it opened my eyes to a new dimension of design.

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