I hate CSS !

okay, well maybe I don't hate CSS, but I really dislike the completing implementations and the work you have to do when putting together a marginally complex page and making it work for everyone.

I like IE6 and it's strict mode - saves so much time over trying to build alternate style sheets for different browsers and platforms but even so it's not perfect. There are a few issues specific to strict mode... which of course disappear in quirks mode... which gives you back the original problem.

It's enough to make your head hurt.

Back in the pre-CSS days it was easy. Expectations where lower and if you couldn't make a layout with table cells and background images that was fine. And it pretty much worked in any browser.

Now CSS has started to set the bar a lot higher but the inconsistancies with interpreting the standards causes no end of trouble.

And rather than try and make sure that the newer arrivals support the existing de facto standards and help move things forward from a user perspective they crow about how compliant they are (and I have to point the finger more heavily in the direction of Firefox, Netscape 8 and Opera than the incumbent IE - admittedly because IE hasn't had an upgrade in the sme timeframe of the others)

Maybe with the advent of IE7 (which is promising great things of CSS2 support, alpha blending and general PNG implementation) the landscape is going to take a turn for the better. But even if it is a totally perfect implementation there will still be a need to support the lame ducks (even though on one client site which gets over 2 million page impressions a day, on a slow day the non-IE traffic comprises less than 4%) and compensate for deficiencies in the ivory tower created standards (see - it's true, you can't please all the people all of the time !)