The MS3 default template will use a CSS based layout. I will not go over advantages and disadvantages of CSS vs. tables, this has been amply debated over the years. Let's say CSS Zen Garden is testimony to the versatility of CSS2 layouts.
We have also decided the contents of the page should come first in the HTML:
Also we're not using javascript for positioning.
This decision means CSS will be used to place the various parts in the page, as they won't come in natural order. This we can do by using position, float, or a combination of these.
I started with the absolute positioning scheme as Harald had had a go at it.
There is a basic problem with absolute positioning, though. Any item so placed is taken out of the flow. What does this mean? It means the following items (in the HTML file) will be placed as if the positioned items weren't there.
Case in point: the footer bar in osCommerce MS2 layout will always be below the longest element above, left column, contents or right column. Not so with positioned columns: The footer will overlap the columns if the contents is shorter than the columns. One trick involves changing the height of all three columns dynamically after page load. But we're not using Javascript.
In the end, the absolute layout will have a discrete footer below the contents (in blue in the drawing), not below the side columns. Additional content, such as the date or number of queries, can go at the bottom of the columns. But frankly, who needs to know the local time of the server?
I wanted to commit the float layout last week-end, but we had trouble with the Subversion server. Next time!
