Layout problem - Compatibility

Hi,
I'm having problems with compatibility between IE6+ and FF. I've mostly been only focusing on IE6 because it's just plain works and I don't have to spend painstaking hours trying to figure out why my code won't work. I am only trying to get this all to work for a customer. Otherwise I wouldn't be concerned about it.

My current problem is:
1)
Centering an element. I realized a while back that many HTML tags were no longer "useable or proper" including <center> but it seems to be the only universal tag that works. I was doing some reading and apparently to center an item you must use margin: 0 auto. This works fine in FF, but does absolutely nothing worth the typing in IE6. So I revert to using text-align: center in the parent element, which works perfect in IE6+
2)
Floating an element to the left in IE6 is simple and pain-free, but in firefox, any elements surrounding the floating element seem to 'hide' behind it, rather than just simply show up *beside* it.

What am I doing wrong? Should I just completely forget about ever doing web design forever? Or just sign the petition to have FF banned? J/K, there probably isn't a petition...

By the way, I'm sure there's a ton of ppl that would probably argue that FF is better. Which is weird because I have asked around and nobody I've asked have ever used Firefox, or those who have, don't like it. Is there some sort of conspiracy going on in the web design world that I'm not aware of?

Anyways, sorry for the rant I'm just overly frustrated with this and my laptop is really warm on the legs haha. But I would greatly appreciate any help.

Thanks to anyone willing to help me out! :thumbsup:

If you are doing this professionally, and you did say that you were doing it for a customer, then you really need to get better acquainted with CSS and web standards.

When you want to center something, you need to use margin:0px auto and sometimes text-align:center. Even if the thing you want to center isn't text, you still may have to use text-align:center. Remember to always declare a DOCTYPE, and remember that many problems associated with layout are due to IE needing to have layout declared. Declaring layout is many times as easy as declaring a width. Search the internet for hasLayout, and I'm sure you will find plenty of reading.

IE7 is becoming more of a web standards compliant browser. Currently, the most popular web standards compliant browsers are FF, Opera, and Safari. You really need to design for all of these browsers. The fact that your floats aren't working, or are showing up funny just means that you don't REALLY understand CSS. IE, especially IE6, is really a poor browser, and when you get more experience with coding you will see why.

Good luck.

Thanks for the reply. Yes I'm doing this for a customer, but I'm not a professional. The customer understands that. Normally I just do this as a hobby because I can't afford schooling for this sort of thing.

Anyways, thanks for the advice. I will look into doing some research to better my knowledge on CSS because I obviously don't know what I'm doing on that side of things. :rolleyes:

Tyler

Thanks for the reply. Yes I'm doing this for a customer, but I'm not a professional. The customer understands that. Normally I just do this as a hobby because I can't afford schooling for this sort of thing.

Anyways, thanks for the advice. I will look into doing some research to better my knowledge on CSS because I obviously don't know what I'm doing on that side of things. :rolleyes:

Tyler
You may find some useful sites if you visit the url in my signature.

Frank