RE: XHTML Transitional DTD and <td> tags

> From:	Laurel Oglesby [SMTP:LaurelO@rivio.com]
> 
> According to the XHTML Transitional DTD on the w3c site, <td> tags can
> only
	[DJW:]  Which is deprecated in favour of standards that
	do not allow widths at all.

> have pixel widths applied and not percents, as indicated below by the
> %Pixels.  Is this an error? Should the DTD show %Length instead, as in the
> HTML 4 Transitional DTD, or has this been changed in the XHTML DTD?  If
> this
> is correct, can you please tell me why percentages are no longer valid??
	[DJW:]  
	At a guess, because the percentage would be of the overall
	width of the table, but the overall width of the table is
	the sum of the column widths, resulting in a circular
	definition.

	Also, noting that 4.01 strict allows relative widths on COL and
	COLGROUP, I'd guess another factor is the difficulty of 
	laying out a table when you are being drip fed relative
	widths row by row.  Most tables where widths are critical are
	probably best done with table-layout:fixed and COL/COLGROUP,
	anyway.


> Also, I checked two XHTML books (Beginning XHTML by WROX and HTML & XHTML
> The Definitive Guide by O'Reilly), and both books confirm that pixel and
> percentage widths can be used in the <td> tag.
> 
	[DJW:]  Without having specifically checked these, I would
	not rely on most mass market books to give reliable information
	on HTML.  Percentage widths were not allowed in the first
	W3C HTML DTD (3.2) allowing tables, either. 

	You should use style sheets, which will have much better defined
	semantics for these awkward cases.

[DJW:]  

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Received on Friday, 29 June 2001 13:20:34 UTC