"Andrew Chalk" <ach***@magnacartasoftware.com> wrote in message
news:OGXIRvlAGHA.344@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
> Perhaps someone more experienced than I can help me with a very basic
> issue:
>
> Suppose you are designing ASP.NET pages that resemble forms. In terms of
> going about laying these out, if you want to control the exact location of
> each element, do you use a table and place elements in the cells?
>
> Also, should one use absolute positionong, or what?
>
> Many thanks.
>

"Joe King" <spamjoe@optonline.net> wrote in message
news:O28wSTnAGHA.1288@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
> Andrew,
>
> Depends in part about what you mean by "exact location" and the complexity
> of your overall design.  Do you want all your content to compensate for
> the size of the browser window?  Do you want your form to contain a matrix
> of child windows, each with their own scrolling inner content and
> resizing? Splitters? etc.
>
> Tables will give you and easy to create matrix of percentage based,
> relatively positioned content.  Table cells themselves do not inherently
> provide scrolling ability for inner content, splitters or other form-like
> conventions.  Though there are probably ways to get this with a mix of sub
> elements (like Divs) and through the use of javascript.  Percentage based
> Tables are good for width, but can be more of a hassle for dynamic,
> controllable heights.
>
> Divs (ie:  Panels) will give you the block level containers with absolute
> coordinate or relative positioning.  You'll get scrolling and clipping of
> content with them.  For them to adjust dynamically, you usually have to
> manage them via JavaScript to get a really good fluid design (depending on
> your design complexity).  Percentage based Widths usually work well for a
> majority of modern browsers, but Height can be a hassle (like tables).
>
> Another thing that gives you a fluid layout easily is HTML Framesets.  I
> wouldn't suggest their use, however.  The layout part is easy, though they
> really tears apart the server-side architecture as the content of each
> frame is a separate ASPX page.  (there are tons of other problems
> associated with frame, even without the server-side considerations, I only
> mentioned frames because they do exist and they ARE easy to use to create
> the UI aspect of a layout.).
>
> We also have an ASP.NET server control called PanelSet for ASP.NET that
> will create a matrix of resizable, nested child windows (Panels) and
> splitters. It is created more like a Frameset or Table syntactically, but
> it uses no HTML framesets, which means it exists all on a single ASPX
> page. Technically, under the covers, it uses DIVs and Javascript.   In
> downlevel rendering mode, it renders all your page content within an
> organized layout of Tables.
>
> Hope that helps.  You can check it out and download the eval if it
> interests you:
>
> http://www.coalesys.com/products/mercuryuiaspnet/features/panelset.asp
>
> There are online sample to view as well:
>
> http://www.coalesys.com/products/mercuryuiaspnet/samples/panelset/default.asp
>
> Regards,
>
> Joe King
> Coalesys, Inc.
>
> "Andrew Chalk" <ach***@magnacartasoftware.com> wrote in message
> news:OGXIRvlAGHA.344@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
>> Perhaps someone more experienced than I can help me with a very basic
>> issue:
>>
>> Suppose you are designing ASP.NET pages that resemble forms. In terms of
>> going about laying these out, if you want to control the exact location
>> of each element, do you use a table and place elements in the cells?
>>
>> Also, should one use absolute positionong, or what?
>>
>> Many thanks.
>>
>
>

"Andrew Chalk" <ach***@magnacartasoftware.com> wrote in message
news:UZLof.30404$BZ5.1108@newssvr13.news.prodigy.com...
> Thanbks for the answer. Looking at your home page, was the "Office" style
> menu on the left created with PanelSet?
>
> - A
>