Chapter 8. Advanced Page Layout

As you saw in the last chapter, table-based design gets the job done. With an admirable track record and great browser support, tables are still a good layout tool for Web designers. But tables have their disadvantages: Complex table designs download slowly, are difficult to update, and can't always be deciphered by assistive technologies, like the screen readers used by the visually impaired. In addition, newer devices that now surf the Webcellphones, palmtops, and even game consolesfrequently choke on complex table layouts.

There's always more than one way to skin a Web page, however. Newer Web browsers can also take advantage of the golden child of Web page layout, Cascading Style Sheets. In Chapter 6, you saw how CSS provides powerful formatting options for text, images, and other page elements. In addition, a subset of CSS properties known as CSS-P (short for CSS-Positioning ) lets you control the placement of elements on a page. Fortunately, Dreamweaver has many features that make building CSS-based layouts a breeze .