Well I have read a lot on the internet about tableless web design…. The more I read the more I feel…guilty about using tables to design my web sites. ☺ haha seriously I feel that it is time that I learn to design my sites without tables.. now.. Let me first start out by saying that I use dreamweaver…I know I know…all you code junkies are gonna call me a noob and everything.. But the fact of the matter is I am not a coder, I am a designer.
ANYWAY the reason for my post! I am currently working on a new web site, I have set it up using tables (rather sloppily I might add, Like I said, im a graphics guy not a code guy) Before I go any further here is what I have so far for my new site

sheffield.gomft.com/hfmcc/index.html

(SEE THE MONTHLY SPECIAL PAGE, Right bar) It looks kinda ok in Safari and is very messed up in Firefox. I am having some issues with the way the content is placing itself (on the right sidebar) when I elongate the main table. The box that contains the contact begins tiling itself, even though It looks fine in Dreamweaver, and all the furniture brands are not aligned to the top.


Maybe I need to go tableles… Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can attain this design? Either tableless or ….if I must, at least efficiently with tables? Thanks everyone.

Tables are bad for SEO and for professionalism but other than that they are easier to use for a beginning web designer than to go tableless. Going tableless will not necessarily fix your issues in fact if you are not used to CSS and div tags you will probably end up coming up with way more problems. This is not to deter you from going tableless as it is way better but it does have a little bit of a learning curve. As far as achieving design, you can do anything with out tables that you can do with tables.

I looked at your site in firefox and IE and it looks totally fine; the code is really messy but that is expected with a table layout. I would leave that site as is unless you are planning to optimize but I would start learning about CSS and div tags so you can start to experiment without using tables. Good luck

These links might help:
http://www.personal.ecu.edu/mss0308/itec3000/
http://www.glish.com/css/

If you wanted to go tableless you might need CSS.

Regards,
FGU

MIGHT need CSS ?? You DEFINITELY need CSS if you want a table-free layout.
While tables may SEEM easier for newbies, they are, in fact, a nightmare. CSS has a bit more of a learning curve, but you will be forever free of the constraints of tables and the massive amount of time it takes to maintain and update a site made with tables.

I would suggest this VERY good book to you:
http://www.sitepoint.com/books/html1/

It's worth every penny. If you're really lucky, you might even find it in your local library.