HTML/Dreamweaver Folk: Question about LAYERS.......... [Updated]

[heat23]

What are the disadvantages of using layers in DREAMWEAVER?? such as compatibilty??
Also, with layers everything is messed up if the browser window is too small or whatever.. the layers overlap and stuff... and im using 1024x768 how can i be sure it will work well for people of all resolutions???

Also is there a way to put a border and border color on a layer??

ADDED:

anyone know where to get a scroll bar like the one here.....
goto http://www.microbians.com
click on OLD SITE
they have 2 vertical scroll bars...anyone know where i can get something like that

 

[heat23]

up

 

[Alienwho]

By layer, do you mean Frames? Or are you talking about photoshop layers? You lossed me.

 

[DannyLove]

layers?? what are you talking about

danny~! show me an example

 

[adams]

You can find more information on this at Site Point Forums. Here's one thread that I found on this topic. I suspect there are more.

 

[chiwawa626]

Last time I tryed layers with dreamweaver, i saw that they turn out looking diffrent in Netscape and IE. You would rather use tables and cut up images and stuff then layers.

 

[heat23]

by Layers i mean the ones in DREAMWEAVER....

 

[Alienwho]

I don't do the dreamweaver.

 

[heat23]

yea i spent hours trying to remove my layers and use tables instead...
they look one way in DREAMWEAVER and another in IE...i got sick of it and gav eup

 

[novon]

the reason they look different in Dreamweaver and IE is that in Dreamweaver you had your invisible elements viewable , which offset the layers from their actual position. Layers are great for IE, and good with The newest version of Netscape. They are very useful for DHTML techniques as well as precise positioning, They don't work well with sites that dynamically change their size depending on the browser windows. It really depends what you want to use them for. Also, you can draw layers, then in Dreamweaver, convert them to tables, which is cool for compatibility. See the extensive Dreamweaver help system for more info.

-novon

 

[Dhruv]

Layers can be used in netscape with a simple script added that changes the tags from 'div' to 'layer' and vice versa after detecting the browser.

Disadvantages with layers, are, as you pointed out the resizing. You can't get around this. If you are creating a site that you expect to have a reasonable amount of traffic, I would avoid using layers unless the appearance will not be affected by variances in resolution. I would do the convert to tables option as you mentioned Dreamweaver has. Why does it look different? I don't know, and it reall doesn't matter since you should really only be viewing the page in the browser anyway. I wouldn't rely on how it 'look' in dreamweaver. I doubt you will be completely satisifed with dreamweaver as it does it by itself. Usually, if I use dreamweaver, I will do the layers/tables/hotspots (thats all i use it for otherwise i hard code) and then edit as needed using Textpad or another good program.

By the way, inserting layers within tables, hoping that will help resize won't do it either. usually when you create web pages, i find that you want to test it at 800 x 600 and higher. a lot of ppl still use 800x600 actually. Also, be sure to test with Netscape 4.7 as 6.0 can be misleading since it is virtually the same as IE with the exception of some DHTML effects.

 

[heat23]

anyone know where to get a scroll bar like the one here.....
goto http://www.microbians.com
click on OLD SITE
they have 2 vertical scroll bars...anyone know where i can get something like that

 

[kami]

I dont recommend layers, since both browsers are so different (even though 90%+ use IE now anyway).

You can, however, design your site in layers (ass-easy!) and then convert the layers to tables. This works quite well.

 

[skywhr]

netscape I think has problems with layers

 

[heat23]

well my site wont have a wide audience...just friends i guess....
i hate how netscape (v4 at least) displays things all messed up..even without layers..everything looks different in there...tables dont line up and stuff....

as for DREAMWEAVER's convert layers to tables...that doesnt work too well for me...everythin goes whack

 

[loup garou]

Yo heat, like Novon and Kami said, you can design the site with layers, then convert to tables (File > Convert > 3.0 Browser compatible). It won't convert if any of your layers overlap, so make sure there is a 1px gap between layers. What I do is write a little Javascript that detects browser type and version, then points to the applicable site (IE 4.0 & up to layers site, Netscape, other browsers, and old versions of IE to frames site). If you want some more help, PM me.

 

[djchemistry]

I use a layer on my "about me" section. Check it out on my site in the sig. I haven't found a problem viewing it in Netscape. Of course, I do define the size of the window so there's no worries about resolutions and such.

 

[heat23]

i just tried viewing my page in NETSCAPE 4.08 and 4.7.....its TOTALLY MESSED UP......
you cant even look at the page

any suggestions
btw: i have nested layers

 

[DAM]

layers will not work in NS pre 6.0 i think, i dont recommend you use them, like it was mentioned DW has a feature to turn layers to tables.





dam()

 

[heat23]

i guess ill make it where it detects if u using netscape and just display a message to load up IE ha

is there anyway to make it open up IE automatically from a click of a link??

 

[heat23]

i guess ill make it where it detects if u using netscape and just display a message to load up IE ha

is there anyway to make it open up IE automatically from a click of a link??

 

[Deeko]

I use layers cause lots of stuff overlaps...never had anyone complain that it didn't look right.