Three columns layout without table

Feb 08 2008

Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.

Computer monitors are getting bigger and bigger, so do the html pages. People start to add more columns into the layout.
To create a three columns layout, in a very traditional way you can do it in a table, like this:

<table>
  <tr><td>Left</td><td>Main</td><td>Right</td><tr>
</table>

There are some obvious downside on this:

Mix data and presentation
Not browser friendly, try to browser this use a mobile phone? I am not saying iPhone or iPod Touch.

So how to fix it? You can use css with “position: absolute;” or “Float”:

<div id="wrapper">
  <div id="main">
    <div id="sideleft">Left column</div>
    <div id="sideright">Right column</div>
    <div id="content">Content</div>
  </div>
</div>

#wrapper {width: 800px;}
#main {margin-top: 10px;}
#sideleft {float: left; width: 200px; border: 1px solid black; background-color: #dddddd;}
#sideright {float: right; width: 200px; border: 1px solid green; background-color: #99ff99;}
#content {border: 1px solid blue; background-color: #9999ff; margin: 0 20px 0 10px;}

Want to know more?