CCS layouts have been in the web development fraternity for quite some time. Still, it took a fairly long time for the developers to realize its importance and gauge its capacity of serving the virtual world. This lack of awareness can be attributed to the limited support from the browsers till the development of CSS 2.0, which is compatible with more than 99 percent of the browsers that are out there in the market at present.
However, one question that should strike people’s mind is why on earth should a website be converted from its present table-based layout to CSS based layout? What major difference will it make? One simple answer to these two questions is – it will help earn more money. Now let’s understand the answer in a fairly vivid way.
Decreases the cost of bandwidth
Web pages that use CSS layout are capable of squeezing files, making them much smaller in size than their counterparts, which are using the conventional table based or tabular layout. Naturally, as a result of the smaller size of the files, the cost of bandwidth comes down considerably, thereby resulting in a sizable amount of savings, especially for sites that attract high amount of traffic.
The main reason behind this considerable reduction of file size can be attributed to the placement of information in the external CSS based documents that are called up only once, when the home page of the website in question gets loaded with content and is stored or cached on the computer of the user. On the other hand, sites with the conventional tabular layout place all the information inside each and every HTML, which is subsequently called up and then downloaded for each and every page of the site in question. Besides, CSS can also be used for replacing rollovers of JavaScript images, which in turn allows a considerable reduction of the overall size of the web pages.
Indulges in higher ranking on search engines
A website that uses CSS based layout instead of table-based layout always enjoys higher search engine rankings. This is mainly because of the following reasons:
- The CSS code is cleaner and less cumbersome; hence, is more accessible to the search engines.
- All the important and the most relevant content can be positioned at the top of the HTML document.
- The density of content is much greater compared to coding.
A high rank on search engines understandably indicates increased flow of traffic that results in high visibility that ultimately results in greater sales and revenue generation at the end of the day.
Faster Speed of Download
CSS based layouts increase the download speed of the sites to a considerable extent. This also increases usability, which in turn increases the sales or conversion rate by 100 percent. Now, what are the reasons that cause the download speed to be faster? Here they are:
- Tables in CSS based layouts appear on screen simultaneously; hence, the entire table can be downloaded as well as rendered all at once.
- Tables support use of spacer images that in turn helps in site positioning
- CSS needs a lesser number of codes than the tables, which are more cumbersome and complicated in structure.
- CSS helps a lot when it comes to controlling download of the order items on the screen, and helps the content to appear before images, which generally take more time to get downloaded.
Last but not the least, CSS-based websites are compatible with various personal digital assistance (PDA) devices, mobile devices, web based televisions and in-car browsers. Hence, it is anybody’s guess that with the passage of each day, the importance of CSS is increasing in leaps and bounds and this trend is likely to continue for days to come.