Rodent Regatta

As always, my questions are simple. I’ve been viewing source on lots of pages again recently. Two key questions come to my mind:

1. 
   
   How can I figure out what went on between the template with all of its macros to the final HTML I see when I view source? There are some great-looking weblogs that have elements I’d like to imitate, but it’s tough to see how to get there working backwards toward a template from the final HTML.


2. 
   
   When you view source on a page created with CSS, don’t you get to a dead-end because you can’t ”view CSS?” Isn’t that another files somewhere that you don’t have access to?

CSS promise vs. reality. Mark Newhouse: Cascading Style Sheets, Promise vs. Reality, and a Look to the Future. [via Shirley Kaiser: CSS Promises vs. Reality: How Do They Compare?] A very realistic and balanced article.

The comfort and familiarity of table-based layouts make them hard to give up. As you examine some of the promises of CSS in light of both current reality and the longer-term future, I hope I can make a case for encouraging those of you who are sitting on the fence, to come down on the side of CSS and well-structured (X)HTML. I think you’ll find the grass really is greener over here. [dive into mark]