Obviously this sort of thing is an improvement over all the various contortions one must do to achieve that w/o "css tables"... nesting and negative margins and what-have-you, but I feel like using "display:table-cell" obscures the designer's intent, kind of. That sample layout isn't a table, it's a layout.
Yes, but it functions like an HTML table, and that's the point. While a Firefox tab may look completely different from what a tab originally is (like one in a folder), it functions the same, and so the term is carried on.
I think the important thing is that CSS can finally model behavior identical to using a table tag. And as I said in my other comment, it's about time, since tables are one of the most used HTML design (what CSS is for, after all) elements.
The two problems with html table designs are loss of accessibility and semantics. CSS tables do indeed combat both of these by separating content from presentation.
The part that you're sore over is just the name. I agree, as it goes, but that doesn't mean CSS tables are obscuring intent.
Exactly--tables (CSS or otherwise) are meant for _tabular_ data, like you would see in a spreadsheet, not page layouts. And if you want to use a table, the semantic way is to use a <table> tag, not a <div> or something else disguising as one.
You aren't redefining other elements. You're styling other elements such that they're laid out as tabular data would be, without having to redefine them as tabular data.
The only reason I find this remotely interesting is that it stands a chance of giving table-layout loving folks no excuse to move to CSS layouts. On the other side I find it a shady under-handed not fully cross-browser supported and not backwards compatible way of making a table-layout without making a table.
Comments on the site devolved into tables vs css so I didn't read too far down.
[+] [-] mdaines|18 years ago|reply
[+] [-] technoguyrob|18 years ago|reply
I think the important thing is that CSS can finally model behavior identical to using a table tag. And as I said in my other comment, it's about time, since tables are one of the most used HTML design (what CSS is for, after all) elements.
[+] [-] tel|18 years ago|reply
The part that you're sore over is just the name. I agree, as it goes, but that doesn't mean CSS tables are obscuring intent.
[+] [-] illicium|18 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Tichy|18 years ago|reply
[+] [-] brlewis|18 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nickb|18 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sosuke|18 years ago|reply
Comments on the site devolved into tables vs css so I didn't read too far down.
[+] [-] technoguyrob|18 years ago|reply