Does it seem like we are still in the dark ages of web design and layout? Lately, I've been excited that I can get away with using alpha transparent PNGs on my

Does it seem like we are still in the dark ages of web design and layout? Lately, I've been excited that I can get away with using alpha transparent PNGs on my sites, even though we've had the technology for the last decade. From the moment I began to learn HTML, I've been busting my head against this 4x4 beam standing here. The beam is bloody, but I'm still struggling with things that should be ultra-simple. We have a variety of prior work we can use to investigate better layout strategies, namely from the print design/layout world and from the programming world, where we have layout managers a-plenty. It really is frustrating.