RE: CSS display: table

Thanks all for your useful comments.

I owe you an explanation :-) - my goal is to provide a user with a means to create some XML complying with a predefined schema, while displaying the XML in a tabular way (since it is the currently preferred layout). (Hence the link I gave)

So I was looking for a structured XML editor with CSS support, in particular this display: table.

JL


From: Chris Beall [mailto:chris_beall@prodigy.net]
Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2012 1:17 AM
To: www-amaya@w3.org; Dominique Meeùs
Subject: Re: CSS display: table

Dominique,

Thank you.  I am familiar with the debate about using tables for layout.  The technique described by Jean-Luc  should satisfy the purists on that point, while still allowing what is often called grid-based layout.  A bit of a loophole in my opinion, but it can save hours of needless debate.

My own concern with such layout, regardless of how it is achieved, is that it does not accommodate narrow displays as well as the various float techniques do, but today's devices seem to be solving that problem (with scaling, zooming, easier horizontal scrolling, etc.) so perhaps it 's no longer an issue.

Chris Beall

--- On Wed, 2/15/12, Dominique Meeùs <dominique@d-meeus.be<mailto:dominique@d-meeus.be>> wrote:

From: Dominique Meeùs <dominique@d-meeus.be<mailto:dominique@d-meeus.be>>
Subject: Re: CSS display: table
To: www-amaya@w3.org<mailto:www-amaya@w3.org>
Date: Wednesday, February 15, 2012, 6:08 PM
Chris Beall a écrit ce qui suit, le 15/02/12 23:49 :
… In view of the fact that you must go to a lot of work to add a set of classes to do this, plus assign those classes carefully to each and every <div> in the tree, why would you not instead just use the appropriate <table>-family tags instead of <div>s?  I sense a gap in my education; perhaps you can fill it.

This was my first reaction and I nearly posted the same question. Then I saw the linuxandfriends link given by Jean-Luc Meunier refers to http://www.digital-web.com/articles/everything_you_know_about_CSS_Is_wrong/ where there is some more “philosophy” about this. In a few words, you should use HTML tables to display tabular content, the kind of content you would place in a spreadsheet if it was not a webpage; you should use these CSS tabular possibilities if it is not typical tabular content, but mere tabular display (like a div id="navigation" column somewhere in your page).
--- On Tue, 2/14/12, Meunier, Jean-Luc <Jean-Luc.Meunier@xrce.xerox.com></mc/compose?to=Jean-Luc.Meunier@xrce.xerox.com> wrote:


From: Meunier, Jean-Luc <Jean-Luc.Meunier@xrce.xerox.com></mc/compose?to=Jean-Luc.Meunier@xrce.xerox.com>
Subject: CSS display: table
To: "www-amaya@w3.org"</mc/compose?to=www-amaya@w3.org> <www-amaya@w3.org></mc/compose?to=www-amaya@w3.org>
Date: Tuesday, February 14, 2012, 10:45 AM


… See for instance at http://linuxandfriends.com/2009/04/04/how-to-style-div-elements-as-tables/