Macromedia Dreamweaver :: AP DIVS vs DIV tags


	AP DIVS vs DIV tags is it wise to layout ones site using AP DIVS instead of DIV tags? or are they the same thing? liveonnoevil wrote: > is it wise to layout ones site using AP DIVS instead of DIV tags? or are they the same thing? The two are entirely different. AP <divs> (layers) are stationary on the page. You give them co-ordinates and that's where they stay. That seems easy enough but the downside is that they are usually not connected to any other element in the web page (out of the flow) therefore they cannot be affected or react to anything around them, which in a lot of senarios you will NOT want. Take an instance where two AP <divs> are directly inserted one beneath the other (as a lot of new developers tend to do) and both filled with text. The text in the top AP <div> will overflow ontop of the text in the one below should the text get bigger as a result of different browsers rendering the text diferently or more in the case of an end user zooming the text so it's legible to them. This is not what you desire to happen to your page and you should always take this into account when designing. <divs> are just containers without any positioning (unless you give them some) and as such work together as a team to take into account movement within the page due to extra elements being added or the volume of text getting larger in depth. <divs> are much more complex to learn therefore tables would be a better solution until you can find time to practice building using <divs> Use AP <divs> for pop-up menus or showin and hidding elments of your page. They do have their uses but you need to know when and how to use them. This only comes through trial and error. -----------------------------------------------Reply----------------------------------------------- No. And yes, in the sense that both are div tags - but one is absolutely positioned and the other is not. It's like saying that our two cars are the same although yours is red and mine is blue. Absolute positioning is a complex thing, as is all use of the "position" style. This may help you understand positioning a bit - There are 4 different types of positioning: Absolute Relative Fixed Static Here is a brief explanation of each kind of positioning (with regard to placement of elements on the page only).... Position:absolute (or A/P elements) ----------------------- This does several things - 1. It 'removes' the element from the flow of the code on the page so that it can no longer influence the size or position of any other page element (except for those contained within it, of course). 2. The absolutely positioned element takes its position from the position of its closest PARENT positioned element - in the absence of any explicitly positioned parent, this will default to the <body> tag, which is always positioned at 0,0 in the browser viewport. This means that it doesn't matter where in the HTML code the layer's code appears (between <body> and </body>), its location on the screen will not change (this assumes that you have not positioned the A/P element within a table or another A/P element, of course). Furthermore, the space in which this element would have appeared were it not positioned is not preserved on the screen. In other words, absolutely positioned elements don't take up any space on the page. In fact, they FLOAT over the page. Position:relative (or R/P elements) ---------------------- In contrast to absolute positioning, a relatively positioned page element is not removed from the flow of the code on the page, so it will use the spot where it would have appeared based on its position in the code as its zero point reference. If you then supply top, right, bottom, or left positions to the style for this element, those values will be used as offsets from its zero point. This means that it DOES matter where in the code the relatively positioned element appears (, as it will be positioned in that location (factoring in the offsets) on the screen (this is true for any placement in the code). Furthermore, the space where this element would have appeared is preserved in the display, and can therefore affect the placement of succeeding elements. This means that the taller a relatively positioned element is, the more space it forces on the page. Position:static ------------------- As with relative position, static positions also "go with the flow". An element with a static position cannot have values for offsets (top, right, left, bottom) or if it has them, they will be ignored. Unless explicitly positioned, all div elements default to static positioning. Position:fixed ------------------ A page element with this style will not scroll as the page content scrolls. Support for this in elements other than page backgrounds is quirky There are several other things you need to know: 1. ANY page element can be positioned - paragraphs, tables, images, lists, etc. 2. The <div> tag is a BLOCK level tag. This means that if it is not positioned or explicitly styled otherwise, a) it will always begin on a new line on the screen, and b) it will always force content to a new line below it, and c) it will always take up the entire width of its container (i.e., width:100%). 3. The placement of A/P elements can affect the BEHAVIOR of other elements on the page. For example, a 'layer' placed over a hyperlink will mask that hyperlink. You can see a good example of the essential difference between absolute and relative positioning here - http://www.great-web-sights.com/g_layersdemo.asp You can see a good demonstration of why using layers for a page layout tool is dangerous here - http://www.great-web-sights.com/g_layer-overlap.asp -- Murray --- ICQ 71997575 Adobe Community Expert (If you MUST email me, don't LAUGH when you do so!) ================== http://www.dreamweavermx-templates.com - Template Triage! http://www.projectseven.com/go - DW FAQs, Tutorials & Resources http://www.dwfaq.com - DW FAQs, Tutorials & Resources http://www.macromedia.com/support/search/ - Macromedia (MM) Technotes ================== "liveonnoevil" <webforumsu@macromedia.com> wrote in message news:f46atf$qtt$1@forums.macromedia.com... - Hide quoted text - > is it wise to layout ones site using AP DIVS instead of DIV tags? or are > they the same thing? ok so are AP elements are like one cell tables that dont scale with the browser window? i set my AP DIVS up similar to how a table looks (each AP DIV being a cell). the area that contains my text is a nested inside an AP DIV that is set to scroll on overflow. It appears correctly within the some of the commonly used browsers, both PC (firefox, explorer) and MAC (safari, firefox, explorer) . The only problem being, users dont have the option of increasing/decreasing the size of the text thats inside the nested AP DIV. "Osgood" - when using Tables can i set a cell up to scrool on overflow? or would i have to draw a table inside of the cell where i want my info to appear? -----------------------------------------------Reply----------------------------------------------- > ok so are AP elements are like one cell tables that dont scale with the > browser > window? You could perhaps think of them that way, but why resort to such an artifice? > i set my AP DIVS up similar to how a table looks (each AP DIV being a > cell). That's a really poor approach. If a table works best, then by all means, use it! > The only problem being, users dont have the option of > increasing/decreasing the > size of the text thats inside the nested AP DIV. Sure they do - all text on all pages can be resized in the browser. > "Osgood" - when using Tables can i set a cell up to scrool on overflow? > or > would i have to draw a table inside of the cell where i want my info to > appear? Just put a div (not AP) in the table cell. Use CSS to set its overflow style to scroll and give it a height. -- Murray --- ICQ 71997575 Adobe Community Expert (If you MUST email me, don't LAUGH when you do so!) ================== http://www.dreamweavermx-templates.com - Template Triage! http://www.projectseven.com/go - DW FAQs, Tutorials & Resources http://www.dwfaq.com - DW FAQs, Tutorials & Resources http://www.macromedia.com/support/search/ - Macromedia (MM) Technotes ================== "liveonnoevil" <webforumsu@macromedia.com> wrote in message news:f46gvg$5da$1@forums.macromedia.com... - Hide quoted text - > ok so are AP elements are like one cell tables that dont scale with the > browser > window? > i set my AP DIVS up similar to how a table looks (each AP DIV being a > cell). > the area that contains my text is a nested inside an AP DIV that is set to > scroll on overflow. It appears correctly within the some of the commonly > used > browsers, both PC (firefox, explorer) and MAC (safari, firefox, explorer) > . > "Osgood" - when using Tables can i set a cell up to scrool on overflow? > or > would i have to draw a table inside of the cell where i want my info to > appear?