Does it make me a bad web developer if I use margin?

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Madbones
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29 Jun 2012, 9:47 am

Hey!
Sometimes in web development I use margin-right or whatever to move things to a perfect position. I try not to use it, but when I do its never needed that much.
Is it bad that I use margin?


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kc8ufv
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29 Jun 2012, 11:44 am

Not neccessarily. In any form of development, there are structures that are generally considered bad form to use, but are neccessary for certain specific things (GOTO is probably the most universal example). You aren't a bad developer by using these things occasionally, just don't rely too heavily on them as they will eventually cause a problem.



bernerbrau
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29 Jun 2012, 11:47 am

A deeper understanding of the CSS box and layout models, and browser compatibility quirks, will help you develop an intuition on when it's OK and not OK to use certain features.

I have a coworker just out of college who uses absolute positioning and pixel-precise values for everything. Sure, it looks pretty, until you try to view it in IE 5, or on my android phone.

In conclusion, CSS blows.



sliqua-jcooter
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29 Jun 2012, 3:24 pm

Madbones wrote:
Hey!
Sometimes in web development I use margin-right or whatever to move things to a perfect position. I try not to use it, but when I do its never needed that much.
Is it bad that I use margin?


Does it work? Does it break in any of your target browsers?

As long as it works, and doesn't break in random browser X - you're fine. Constantly obsessing over whether you're doing things the "right" way is a really fantastic way to miss deadlines and tank your productivity. As long as what you implement works, and is the best solution you can come up with, it's right.


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Burzum
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29 Jun 2012, 6:32 pm

kc8ufv wrote:
In any form of development, there are structures that are generally considered bad form to use, but are neccessary for certain specific things (GOTO is probably the most universal example).

Goto is not necessary for anything.



noname_ever
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29 Jun 2012, 8:56 pm

Burzum wrote:
kc8ufv wrote:
In any form of development, there are structures that are generally considered bad form to use, but are neccessary for certain specific things (GOTO is probably the most universal example).

Goto is not necessary for anything.


In high level languages this is generally true (although I've seen examples of error handling in an embedded C application where the use of goto made it cleaner). In low level languages like assembly, I'd like to see you do much without jump (goto) instructions.



Burzum
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30 Jun 2012, 3:22 am

noname_ever wrote:
In high level languages this is generally true (although I've seen examples of error handling in an embedded C application where the use of goto made it cleaner). In low level languages like assembly, I'd like to see you do much without jump (goto) instructions.

Of course, but since the word goto was used and not jump I assumed it was meant to mean in the context of higher level languages.



kc8ufv
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01 Jul 2012, 9:26 am

Burzum wrote:
noname_ever wrote:
In high level languages this is generally true (although I've seen examples of error handling in an embedded C application where the use of goto made it cleaner). In low level languages like assembly, I'd like to see you do much without jump (goto) instructions.

Of course, but since the word goto was used and not jump I assumed it was meant to mean in the context of higher level languages.

I meant it in the broad context, including jump.



kxmode
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02 Jul 2012, 12:07 am

Madbones wrote:
Hey!
Sometimes in web development I use margin-right or whatever to move things to a perfect position. I try not to use it, but when I do its never needed that much.
Is it bad that I use margin?


I've designed websites and converted those designs into frameworks* for the past 13 years. In my experience margins are not bad per say it's more about how your HTML and CSS code is rendered by various browsers. For example Internet Explorer renders margins and padding quite differently than Firefox, Chrome, and Safari. Margins are part of something called the Box Model or CSS Box Model. In Internet Explorer this Box Model isn't rendered according to the W3C spec. The key is to understand how IE's unique Box Model and other browser's Box Models render margins so that the layout ultimately looks the same across modern browsers.

* Recent example http://www.childhoodobesity2013.com/ (web design, HTML & CSS frameworks, font embedding, and jQuery. Notice this site renders correctly in Firefox, Internet Explorer, Chrome and Safari.)



DefKoN
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10 Jul 2012, 1:00 am

nope it doesnt make you a bad developper if done proper
like:
margin-left:auto;
margin-right:auto;