An overlay is when one web object overlaps another. Overlays are often used to highlight or draw attention to important items on websites to raise conversion rates. This article shows how use CSS positioning to avoid slicing and dicing your overlays and assembling with tables. Along the way we’ll look at the workarounds we used to make the technique work with different browsers (most importantly IE5.x Mac and Safari).
table layout versus css layout
Bookend Lists: Using CSS to Float a Masthead – replace tables with css layout list tutorial
A common visual element in many websites is to position two blocks of content on either end of a navigation bar. The left block of content typically displays global navigational tabs or drop-down menus. The right shows today’s date or perhaps a simplified search form. This article shows how to create a “bookend” look with elements on either end of a box using CSS-styled lists. This CSS-layout technique saves a significant amount of HTML code over table-based techniques. Tests with working code yielded savings in page size ranging from 30% overall to over 73% for the HTML code alone.