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Assignment #:: National University of Modern Languages

This document discusses the history and differences between using tables versus div tags for web layouts. It notes that tables were originally used when early websites started appearing in the 1990s, as they were the method scientists used to share data. However, tables can require more code and time to modify across many pages. Div tags were introduced later alongside CSS to give designers more flexibility, but require knowledge of CSS. While div tags are now considered the standard, tables still have advantages for displaying certain types of data like calendars. The document concludes that div tags paired with external CSS create smaller pages that load faster.

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50 views

Assignment #:: National University of Modern Languages

This document discusses the history and differences between using tables versus div tags for web layouts. It notes that tables were originally used when early websites started appearing in the 1990s, as they were the method scientists used to share data. However, tables can require more code and time to modify across many pages. Div tags were introduced later alongside CSS to give designers more flexibility, but require knowledge of CSS. While div tags are now considered the standard, tables still have advantages for displaying certain types of data like calendars. The document concludes that div tags paired with external CSS create smaller pages that load faster.

Uploaded by

rehan13112
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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National University of Modern Languages

Assignment #

01

Subject

Web engineering

Submitted by

Abdul Sattar

Submitted to

Ms Sara irum

Dated

07-03-2010

Tables:
Table layouts first began appearing when a Web browser called Mosaic was created in 1993 (Wroblewski 7). This is when websites started springing up like weeds in a garden which helped the Internet rise in popularity and become a resource that was used by people other than scientists. Before that time, scientists used the Internet to help share only text data amongst each other. Data is best displayed with the use of tables so this is how they eventually made their way to web layouts. Once the Universities and the general public started using the Internet, websites were created using table layouts since it was the common method used by the scientists before them.

Example
A simple HTML table, containing two columns and two rows: <table border="1"> <tr> <th>Month</th> <th>Savings</th> </tr> <tr> <td>January</td> <td>$100</td> </tr> </table>

Div:
Div tags were accepted by the World Wide Consortium (W3C) in January of 1997 with the release of HTML 3.2 (Raggett). The need for creators of websites to have more control and flexibility of how their pages looked when displayed in web browsers was the driving force behind Cascading Style Sheets. Div tags were used in unison with the Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to provide a new method for creating web layouts.

Example
A section in a document that will be displayed in green: <div style="color:#00FF00"> <h3>This is a header</h3> <p>This is a paragraph.</p> </div>

Tables vs Div:
One disadvantage of using tables for web layouts is the amount of code it takes to create them. Extra code can weigh down the site and cause it to run slower. Another disadvantage of table based layouts is they can require a significant amount of time to make modifications site wide. Given that you have to specify the width and height for the tables individually, you would have to go into each and every page to change those values. Depending on the size of the site; this could take a matter of minutes, hours, or even days to complete. Disadvantages of Div tags are harder to find, but there are a couple worth mentioning. They require some working knowledge of CSS in order to style them properly. Since this is the case, some older Web browsers do not display pages designed with Div tags properly because these earlier browsers do not work well with CSS. Still today, web designers have to provide fixes for older browsers in order for their pages to display as intended. These fixes are primarily geared towards Internet Explorer. As mentioned above, working knowledge of CSS is vital to using Div tags. This requires you to learn another language so to speak. Though CSS is considered to be a less complex language than some other coding languages, it still requires time to learn it. This time it takes for you to learn CSS will vary depending upon your experience with coding. For most, it is a quick learning curve. Tables do have their place among web designs and have advantages over Div tags in certain situations. One situation where tables exceed is the displaying of data such as a calendar or a price list. To create something similar strictly using Div tags would be very time consuming and would require a significant amount of code. A table makes quick work of these two examples. Another advantage of using Tables instead of Div tags for layout is that some designers find the concept easier to grasp than the use of Div tags. It requires little or no knowledge of CSS and most HTML editors have tools which make creating tables simple and fast. Given how there are some free and inexpensive editors on the market, this can be appealing to designers just starting out or for those who are creating a site for themselves. Div tags are considered the standard method for creating web design layouts by most web designers due to the advantages the Div tags bring to the table. One advantage which we listed as a possible disadvantage above is the fact they work hand in hand with CSS. CSS allows designers to change the entire look of a site with the use of one or more external style sheets. This means designers can make a single change to the CSS and it will modify the entire website. The use of Div tags in combination with an external CSS creates smaller sized web pages which results in faster load times when compared to table based layouts. This can mean the difference between a user staying or leaving your website you have created.

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