HTML/CSS Comparison

[sumit israni]

Hi Friends,
I am on the lookout for a quick sheet in which effects generated by HTML are common to those generated by CSS.If anybody can help me in this regard I shall be most thankful,
Regards
Sumit

[QuietDean]

lo sumit,

hmm. HTML and CSS have more differences tahn commonalities, so I have never seen a comparison sheet.

I have seen a complete CSS lookup at http://www.devguru.com and if you want the html4.0 specs alognside the css1 specs, then http://www.w3c.org are your best bet.

hope that helps.

------------------
QuietDean-

[sumit israni]

Hello QuietDean,
Thanks for ur prompt message.Well I have the CSS reference sheets and the HTML tag sheet,but what I was really interested in knowing was ..is this:
For Example:I have a text written say"Hello Sumit".Now I want to highlight the text with a background color that would span the entire width of the page.Now what would be the best way and the shortest way of doing it.Would it be applying a table then giving its row a background color or would it be via CSS or would it be using the style attribute of the HTML tag.This is a very primitive example .Therefore what I am wanting to know is how to achieve an optimized way of layout which would increase my speed of HTML programming.Therefore in relation to that I would want a cumulative comparison of all the layout techniques possible using either of the technologies (HTML/CSS)availaible!!

[webmistress]

The advantage of the CSS is that if you are going to be re-using a certain style over and over on your page, you can define it once in the header and be done with it. Also, if you decide to change it later, you change it in one place rather than at each use.

I had one client who kept changing his "conventions" for text style (notice the past tense on our cliental relationship), and CSS was definitely the way to go. Want those footer links in a bigger font-size? Fix it in the CSS once. Want all transliterated words to be in in Courier instead of what you told me before, Times New Roman? Fix it in the CSS once.

Just my thoughts.



------------------
webmistress

[QuietDean]

Good thoughts. True.

Sumit, as to your problem, weeeelll, it depends. The problem is, according to the latest specs, you would achieve what you want by using a <div class="big"> for example, and defining the div to be 100% wide etc. Thats the proper way. However, you try getting away with this in Netscape 6 and see what a headache it can cause. Therefore, I still use a table to achieve this.

CSS is still a new technology (even though we are on the second version and it's been around since the invention of the printing press!) so the browsers are still worlds apart when it comes to implementation. Thats why the table still works, but even tables are treated differently in different browsers and tables are older than the dinosaurs! it's just that some of the old techniques are more reliable than their funkier modern counterparts.

So I think what you really need is a list of CSS 'bugs'. This will help you see when to use CSS and when to use HTML.

Here are two links, one of known bugs and another to a browser-comparison of supported attributes in CSS ---- bugs first:
http://css.nu/pointers/bugs.html

and browser support:
http://www.webreview2.com/style/mastergrid.shtml
I am a huge fan of CSS, but sometimes the browsers just don't cut the mustard.

Hope these help.

------------------
QuietDean-

[sumit israni]

Hey QuietDean,
You really provided me what I was looking for.Seriously that list is worthwhile looking for. But I guess I will have to do some manual work really and jot down the things in a categorized way so that it becomes second nature in writing HTML.As of now I have to really lookup on these sheets for reference.But I think once these subtle techniques and commonalities are noted,it will become a lot easier.I really thank you for enlightening me on that.Even I am a fan of CSS, but using it inline sometimes confuses me.Thanks buddy,
Regards
Sumit

[QuietDean]

Glad I could help.

Don't forget, Daves' got a couple of css tutorials in his resources section.

------------------
QuietDean-

[sumit israni]

Hey Dean
Thanks man for giving such a prompt help.I do not know the link to Dave's resources site.Can u kindly give me the link .Thanks a lot,
Regards
Sumit

[QuietDean]

Sure,

to get to the main resources menu, its just -
http://www.ahfb2000.com

for the css section, its -
removed

Have fun!



------------------
QuietDean-

[webmistress]

Oh, nice references, QuietDean, thanks. Tables,lol, I surfed on Lynx via a Unix terminal account until just bout oh, three years ago. When CNN switched to tables on their front page I went whacko trying to figure out what the news was!

But seriously, it boggles my brain how the two main browsers can interepret tables so darned differently. Ah well.

------------------
webmistress