| CSS layouts and proper use of CSS are at the root | | | | reality today. Through a separate CSS style sheet, |
| of web standards. While there are many in the | | | | your sites can look their best no matter the media. |
| community constantly beating the drum for | | | | Increased download speed |
| wide-spread CSS use and overall compliance to web | | | | CSS brings with it a "real dollars and cents" cost |
| standards, it is important to understand the benefits | | | | benefit. Most developers find that the average page |
| so you can decide to follow this design path yourself. | | | | weight of a CSS-based layout is half that of a |
| Sooner or later, you'll need to convince your boss, | | | | table-based one. Not only is the code much more |
| colleagues or client why a CSS-based approach is the | | | | readable, and thus easier to update, but the markup |
| right way to go for a new or redesigned site. | | | | is substantially less. Compare character count of a |
| Although it involves technology, it's not really a | | | | CSS layout vs. a table based layout and you'll find |
| technological decision-it's a practical, business decision. | | | | that the CSS approach approximately 50% smaller. |
| There are a great many advantages to the web | | | | Naturally, the download times for a CSS code snippet |
| standards design, but let's look at the top three: | | | | or table-based code snippet would be essentially the |
| portability, speed and maintenance. | | | | same, but if you look at completely developed |
| Better portability | | | | pages, a notable difference is evident. With major |
| One of the primary tenets of web standards is the | | | | sites-or any site experiencing high traffic-there are |
| separation of content from presentation. A key | | | | actual, significant savings for bandwidth costs. |
| benefit of this separation is the ability to reshape the | | | | Moreover, designers typically find that the faster |
| content to fit the media. You can, for example, take | | | | download times result in an increased number and |
| a site that looks great on the computer screen and | | | | length of page visits, which again, can result in a |
| reconfigure it for hard copy printer output with a | | | | notable increase in revenue, especially if you consider |
| CSS style sheet. With the change of just a few style | | | | banner and search engine ad placement. |
| rules, you can hide areas not pertinent to the page, | | | | Easier maintenance |
| like a footer of links, or expand a column of text to | | | | As noted above, the code for a CSS-based site is |
| better fit the printer margins. There are even | | | | much easier to read and, therefore, update. Faster |
| Dreamweaver extensions, such as Eric Meyer's CSS | | | | changes mean less time which translates into more |
| Sculptor, which automatically create separate style | | | | time designers can spend on other projects, another |
| sheets for both screen and print. Most importantly, | | | | real, bottom-line benefit. When external style sheets |
| the portability doesn't stop there. As handheld device | | | | are used, site-wide changes can occur almost |
| technology proliferates, through the iPhone and other | | | | instantaneously and even, if appropriate, be |
| devices, cell phone browsing is much more of a | | | | user-driven. |