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Forum construction

 
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Forum construction, Can I avoid tables?
eddieboy665
27 Jul, 2007 - 02:31 PM
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Hi again,

Just about to start constructing a forum which I am sure is going to take a long time! I want something that looks similar to this forum or V Bulletins but am not expecting all the features - but will try my hardest in the time I have. My question though is; can I avoid tables or is it standard to create a table type layout with tables? (sounds like a stupid question and maybe it is!)

I have not been building sites for long and have been taught to avoid tables where possible, hence I have had no practice with them and feel more confident with a few divs. However my guess is using divisions might get a little complicated for a forum and also ensuring it is cross browser compatible.

What does everyone think?

Cheers,
Ed
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girasquid
RE: Forum Construction
27 Jul, 2007 - 07:33 PM
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Barbarbar
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You can avoid tables, and there's no real 'standard' way to do it. You have to remember that when these forum products originally came out, the standard was table-based design. Chances are most of these forum setups just haven't taken the time to convert their layouts to table-less. Some forums use table-less layouts; try googling 'PunBB'.
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serializer
RE: Forum Construction
28 Jul, 2007 - 04:36 AM
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Use tables when semantically appropriate.

So, for a grid displaying a list of posts, with headings like "Subject", "Posted By", "Time", for example, a table is not only appropriate but necessary.

Where you shouldn't use tables is in structuring your overall template. Use appropriate structural markup such as <div>s to position header, footer, sidebars, body.

--serializer
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PsychoCoder
RE: Forum Construction
29 Jul, 2007 - 08:37 AM
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using DIC.Core;
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It's actually rather easy to avoid using tables, use CSS to manage your layout. Granted each browser renders items differently but there are CSS "hacks" to overcome these differences. Try Googling "css layouts" and read some of the articles provided.

Also, even when displaying a multiple column layout tables aren't necessary, it can be done with <div>'s and CSS to manage the payout 100%
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