styles on tables

When applying a style to a table is it better to do it as a table id or just use class. Want to have different style tables so dont want to redefine the table tag. Do id's need to be unique when on the same page.

I am using Dreamweaver studio 8 and on the drop down you can only choose an id once on that page. Can duplicate the id if I use code though. I know most people just use divs but I am still not confident enough to utilise the benefits yet. There seem to be cross brower pitfalls and layout problems particularly with Dreamweaver.

Any advice, yes please!!

Yes you should use ids once per page

If you need help for a bit to use DIV tags you can use these here to get you started.
http://www.oswd.org
http://www.openwebdesign.org
http://blog.html.it/layoutgala/

You're right. To go through validation, id's should only be used once so use classes. Add your classes to the TR or TD tags to change the formatting style.

Thats good if you want to style all elements in all tables but what if you want more than one table style.

In the past when I have wanted more than one table style instead of using

Code: Select all

TABLE TR TD

which affects all tables or contents, I have created a style e.g. .table01 - .table02 etc then applied the style using class e.g.

Code: Select all

<table width="758" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="table01">

Would it be better to break it up and have additional styles like:
td.table01
tr.table02

Or is there a better way

You can use ID's all over the place only if they're used once per page. Classes can be used twice, or more, per page.

For instance:

You cannot have this on the same page:

<table id="blue">
<tr>
<td>some information</td>
</tr>
</table>

<table id="blue">
<tr>
<td>other information</td>
</tr>
</table>

But you can have this:

<table class="blue">
<tr>
<td>some information</td>
</tr>
</table>

<table class="blue">
<tr>
<td>other information</td>
</tr>
</table>

Thanks but I am still nervous about cross browser issues using divs particularly when using complex layouts where you float them. Have just read the article on Tables vs CSS-P Poll in this forum http://www.webforumz.com/html-forum/...css-p-poll.htm and I can see I am not the only person having doubts, although I am intrigued by the possibilities.

thanks for everyones help

Don't be nervous, I've made cross-browser layouts using floated div's that would be near impossible with tables.

This, for instance: http://amsa.digitalbungalow.com/amsa/bor/highschool/

[edit] Seems like my development server at work is temporarily buggy, check that link later

Thanks, there seems to be a steep learning curve with complex layouts especially when I have got used to working with tables. Have done some good tutorials but there seems to be alot of unresolved issues and lots of dis-information. Tables are very time consuming so I can see the advantages of having a more liquid layout. Dreamweaver studio 8 doesnt seem to display some code correctly too with divs.
Will look at link latter.
Ta

Yeah, don't bother previewing in Design View, it stinks. Just preview in browser (F12 I think) or do the 'ol upload-and-refresh in a browser.

You can open the page as a file in any browser and bookmark it. You can have as many browsers open as you want, although I've had problems trying to keep more than one version of IE.

Answer: Don't use Tables... I only ever use them when displaying Tabular data such as opening times and price lists.

check out Layout Gala: a collection of 40 CSS layouts based on the same markup and ready for download! to get you started with cross-browser compliant css layouts.