We have opted not to create schools as places where children’s curiosity, sensory awareness, power, and communication can flourish, but rather to erect temples of knowledge where we sit them down, tell them a lot of stuff we think is important, try to control their restless curiosity, and test them to see how well they’ve listened to us.
- Robert Fried
The Game of School, pp. 58–59
I remember meeting a classmate my first week of college who boasted about being the top graduate in her high school class. I was intimidated. At my suburban high school, the top student had to beat out almost 500 other ambitious, intelligent teenagers.
After a bit of prodding, though, my new friend admitted she graduated with only 18 other students. Gotta love these small Missouri towns.
Of course, a student graduating with a handful of other students could be smarter than students at larger high schools, but it’s hard to compare. When students are only measured against one another, it’s hard to assess what they know, and don’t.
Example: Tables v. Design
Most people who work with or around websites or web applications are aware of the mantra “Tables shouldn’t be used in design,” but I don’t think all of them understand why. To explain, I’d point you to a practical example: http://www.csszengarden.com/
The css Zen Garden is a great way to look at the power of separating content from design. Every page in the collection uses the same simple HTML page but achieves very different organization and style using simple CSS.
This wouldn’t be possible if you didn’t separate your design from your content. Using tables for layout exactly breaks this rule. A giant table that wraps your content to achieve three columns commits your page to a life of three columns with no hope of changing. (It should go without saying that tables have their place and their use…for building tables.)
Definitions: Markup, Style and Layout
It’s important to have clear definitions about the three components of web design. Some others may vary slightly, but I like to think of them this way.
