<s>
The	O
holy	B-General_Concept
grail	I-General_Concept
is	O
a	O
web	O
page	O
layout	O
which	O
has	O
multiple	O
equal-height	O
columns	O
that	O
are	O
defined	O
with	O
style	O
sheets	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Because	O
of	O
this	O
,	O
finding	O
an	O
optimal	O
implementation	O
was	O
likened	O
to	O
searching	O
for	O
the	O
elusive	O
Holy	B-General_Concept
Grail	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
limitations	O
of	O
CSS	B-Language
and	O
HTML	B-Language
,	O
the	O
desirability	O
of	O
semantically	B-General_Concept
meaningful	O
pages	O
that	O
rank	O
well	O
in	O
search	B-Application
engines	I-Application
,	O
and	O
the	O
deficiencies	O
of	O
various	O
browsers	O
combined	O
historically	O
to	O
create	O
a	O
situation	O
in	O
which	O
there	O
was	O
no	O
way	O
to	O
create	O
this	O
type	O
of	O
layout	O
that	O
would	O
be	O
considered	O
totally	O
correct	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Common	O
workarounds	O
included	O
changes	O
in	O
page	O
structure	O
,	O
the	O
addition	O
of	O
graphics	O
,	O
scripting	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
creative	O
use	O
of	O
CSS	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
particular	O
,	O
the	O
CSS	B-Language
Flexible	O
Box	O
Layout	O
and	O
CSS	B-Language
Grid	O
Layout	O
modules	O
have	O
both	O
provided	O
full	O
solutions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
CSS	B-Language
,	O
although	O
quite	O
useful	O
for	O
styling	O
,	O
had	O
limited	O
capabilities	O
for	O
page	O
layout	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
height	O
of	O
block	O
elements	O
(	O
such	O
as	O
div	B-General_Concept
elements	I-General_Concept
)	O
is	O
normally	O
determined	O
by	O
their	O
content	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
HTML	B-Language
is	O
meant	O
to	O
be	O
used	O
semantically	B-General_Concept
;	O
HTML	B-Language
elements	O
should	O
be	O
chosen	O
which	O
accurately	O
describe	O
their	O
content	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
appearance	O
of	O
a	O
web	O
page	O
as	O
rendered	O
by	O
a	O
user	B-Protocol
agent	I-Protocol
should	O
be	O
determined	O
independently	O
by	O
style	O
rules	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Many	O
implementations	O
misuse	O
HTML	B-Language
by	O
using	O
tables	O
for	O
non-tabular	O
content	O
,	O
or	O
nesting	O
multiple	O
div	B-General_Concept
elements	I-General_Concept
without	O
semantic	O
purpose	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Non-semantic	O
use	O
of	O
HTML	B-Language
confuses	O
users	O
or	O
user	B-Protocol
agents	I-Protocol
who	O
are	O
trying	O
to	O
discern	O
the	O
structure	O
of	O
the	O
page	O
content	O
,	O
and	O
is	O
an	O
accessibility	O
issue	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
search	B-Application
engines	I-Application
may	O
consider	O
content	O
in	O
the	O
beginning	O
of	O
a	O
web	O
page	O
's	O
source	O
code	O
to	O
be	O
more	O
relevant	O
,	O
and	O
content	O
is	O
read	O
in	O
source	O
code	O
order	O
when	O
viewed	O
by	O
some	O
user	B-Protocol
agents	I-Protocol
such	O
as	O
screen	O
readers	O
,	O
web	O
designers	O
desire	O
the	O
ability	O
to	O
place	O
the	O
content	O
in	O
the	O
page	O
source	O
in	O
an	O
arbitrary	O
order	O
,	O
without	O
affecting	O
the	O
appearance	O
of	O
the	O
page	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Because	O
of	O
incorrect	O
rendering	O
of	O
content	O
by	O
different	O
browsers	O
,	O
a	O
method	O
that	O
works	O
in	O
a	O
standards-compliant	O
browser	O
may	O
not	O
work	O
in	O
one	O
that	O
does	O
not	O
implement	O
CSS	B-Language
correctly	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Before	O
the	O
widespread	O
implementation	O
of	O
CSS	B-Language
,	O
designers	O
commonly	O
used	O
tables	O
to	O
lay	O
out	O
pages	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
placing	O
the	O
columns	O
inside	O
table	O
cells	O
easily	O
achieves	O
the	O
desired	O
visual	O
appearance	O
,	O
using	O
a	O
table	O
is	O
semantically	B-General_Concept
incorrect	O
,	O
although	O
the	O
"	O
role	O
"	O
WAI-ARIA	B-General_Concept
HTML	B-General_Concept
attribute	I-General_Concept
can	O
be	O
set	O
to	O
"	O
presentation	O
"	O
to	O
regain	O
semantic	O
context	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
possible	O
to	O
make	O
columns	O
equal	O
height	O
using	O
the	O
CSS	B-Language
display	O
property	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
is	O
semantically	B-General_Concept
correct	O
,	O
as	O
only	O
the	O
display	O
is	O
affected	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
will	O
not	O
work	O
in	O
browsers	O
that	O
do	O
not	O
support	O
JavaScript	B-Language
,	O
or	O
have	O
JavaScript	B-Language
disabled	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
may	O
be	O
acceptable	O
or	O
even	O
desired	O
,	O
but	O
does	O
not	O
solve	O
the	O
holy	B-General_Concept
grail	I-General_Concept
problem	O
as	O
it	O
is	O
a	O
significantly	O
different	O
layout	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Two	O
of	O
these	O
fully	O
solve	O
the	O
holy	B-General_Concept
grail	I-General_Concept
problem	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
W3C	O
proposal	O
contains	O
an	O
example	O
which	O
achieves	O
the	O
holy	B-General_Concept
grail	I-General_Concept
column	O
layout	O
using	O
four	O
simple	O
CSS	B-Language
rules	O
,	O
and	O
makes	O
the	O
layout	O
responsive	O
with	O
a	O
simple	O
media	O
query	O
rule	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Grid	O
Layout	O
is	O
preferred	O
for	O
laying	O
out	O
complex	O
pages	O
,	O
and	O
pages	O
whose	O
layout	O
varies	O
greatly	O
in	O
a	O
responsive	B-General_Concept
design	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
first	O
three-column	O
flanking	O
design	O
that	O
used	O
pure	O
CSS	B-Language
was	O
developed	O
by	O
Rob	O
Chandanais	O
of	O
BlueRobot	O
for	O
the	O
site	O
wrongwaygoback.com	O
in	O
2001	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
that	O
point	O
Neale	O
Talbot	O
was	O
using	O
JavaScript	B-Language
to	O
determine	O
the	O
positioning	O
of	O
the	O
right-hand	O
column	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Chandanais	O
came	O
up	O
with	O
an	O
elegant	O
solution	O
for	O
the	O
positioning	O
using	O
pure	O
CSS	B-Language
instead	O
and	O
soon	O
after	O
dubbed	O
The	O
Holy	B-General_Concept
Grail	I-General_Concept
by	O
Eric	O
Costello	O
of	O
Glish.com	O
.	O
</s>
