Chapter 11. From HTML Extensions to CSS

If you produce material for the Web, chances are you use tables and other HTML-based tricks to achieve some of the stylistic effects that CSS offers. This chapter presents several case studies on how to convert current designs that use HTML extensions into a CSS-based design. Switching to CSS results in a more compact document that downloads faster and prints better. We chose these case studies because we like their design. We do not improve the end result, but describe ways to enhance the underlying code.

The last section, "Case 6: CSS Zen Garden," is a showcase for CSS-based designs. Designers start out with exactly the same HTML markup and combine it with their own CSS style sheets. The results are visually stunning, while the underlying markup remains structural.