As I’ve been updating the website, I’ve been posting on a particular web design forum for feedback to improve the style and structure of the site.
Two of the criticisms that have been levelled at the site on the most recent request for feedback were that there was too much CSS going on with no external style sheet and there were too many tables (td) which are apparently ‘bad practice’.
I think I figured out the style sheet problem with the tick box under file: document set up: output: external stylesheets. Could anyone confirm I’ve done this correctly?
As far as tables go, I didn’t know I was using them, but when I looked at the code, there were a lot of td’s in it! Is this really bad practice and is there a work around/alternative?
Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks in advance.
If yoiu are using FW with the CSS button unselected - Table layout - then FW builds your site structure with tables.
Tables aren’t necessarily ‘bad practice’ more ‘old hat’
If you want to do away with the table structure then you will have to go through your FW doc and make sure that every item becomes a layer. Turning the CSS Button on is not enough and will only ensure that any new items you create become a layered div.
Once you have done that - start on your Master page(s) - then I would add the RPL action to try and avoid overlapping text boxes/images that may well appear.
But there may be areas that become a problem and require an inline construction to get the effect you want.
DanJ has a tutorial on inline construction (Box Model to some) on his site.
That’s a good start but it won’t move everything. There are some actions that will help move (most) of the remaining CSS into an external file but I don’t think you will be able to move everything without doing so manually, it’s an unfortunate by-product of how FW works at the core level. If you’re ok with some CSS in the page then you’ll be fine, if not, well, you have some work.
Todd
I think I figured out the style sheet problem with the tick box under file: document set up: output: external stylesheets.
I’ve said it before, but will say again: I really hope Softpress will rebuild Freeway to at least the CSS positioning out of the HTML mark up to the external CSS.
Thanks very much for the replies everyone. I’m going to put this job into the ‘rainy day’ box. One day I’m sure I’ll get round to tidying it up, for now, your comments have settled my nerves a little.
I agree sly, would be nice if something could be done about this, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s such a nice and easy to use bit of software that I forgive it! I’ve got so much to learn, but I really enjoy the challenge, and so far, freeway is way ahead of my imagination in terms of capability.
Thanks again DeltaDave, Todd and Sly, it’s really very much appreciated.