Using CSS to avoid tables

I found that that when the table got too big and when there were numerous “tables within table”, the web page would load up very slowly.

For example, www.tradersvic.com, I would first see a blank screen for a few seconds and sometimes even more than 10 seconds before the page was being rendered. Another cause of the sluggishness was the use of scripts i.e. PHP and javascript for the live news from Reuters and Google Adsense.

I reckoned one of the solution was to use cascading style sheet (CSS) to avoid table and at the same time I could keep the news and ads. Instead of experimenting on www.tradersvic.com, I used a new domain:

http://www.index-futures-trading.com

I tried as much as possible to keep to the original layout but changed the contents. It took me over 2 days of reading up numerous books and online tutorials. Finally, the website was converted to CSS yesterday. I still retain some tables on the “lighter” page - still haven’t learn how to do 100% CSS .

The new domain, http://www.index-futures-trading.com will be lightweight version of www.tradersvic.com and will do away with the technical analysis staff. However, the resources link to more than 1,000 pages - thanks to Traffic Equalizer. Beside TE, I also added live news feed search with RSS Equalizer.

I also converted the homepage of www.stockindexfutures.info to a 3-cloumn layout without the use of table. Go see for yourself.

Let’s see how these tableless websites fairs in the SERP race!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 25th, 2004 at 12:50 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.