zahnster

Css-based web design has a fundamental belief of fully separating content from presentation. We want to optimize our HTML so we have next-to-no images or structural elements which are there for presentational purposes. Our reasons for doing so are good and right – search engine optimization, accessibility, portability, and so forth – but every once in a while, despite the best of intentions, we can go a bit overboard with the stuff.

There’s a new trend going on, one which I am sure comes from the many text-replacement css methods that have been popping up in every css book published: entire pages with absolutely no imagery. Now, I know css is all about separation of content from presentation, and that css images are easier to replace than html images… you can chat me up about it all day. Fact remains that sometimes images say more about the content than they do the presentation.

Case in point: logos. I’m sure clients will not be thrilled to know that their website prints without their company logo being displayed. That instead of their brand, you get some shoddy Times New Roman font (which is probably wrapped in some ugly link style). I don’t blame you for wanting to take the graphic out, I’ve been guilty of it many times in the past, but I’m seeing this trend more and more and it really should stop. Logos aren’t presentational – they are pure content and represent the company visually.

It’s not just logos, either. I’ve even see sites inserting story images with css, calling it through a div with the image caption. There’s a time and a place for css, but that’s not it, because part of being a true css expert is knowing when to use it, and when not to.