Negative margins vs relative positioning

Question

I've come across many layout techniques involving negative margins, such as this classic for sidebar positioning. It seems like these techniques could just as easily be applied with relative positioning.

So instead of this:

.sidebar {     margin-left:-600px; } 

One would do this:

.sidebar {     position:relative;     left:-600px; } 

It seems like relative positioning might even be cleaner in the vertical direction, as top-margin manipulation may be affected by collapsing margin issues, etc.

Is there any advantage to one over the other, or are they practically equivalent?

Thanks-

Answer 1

I guess relative positioning will shift the content to left but the original space will be occupied by it unless you make the next element relative too. However with negative margin the content and its original space both are shifted.

Answer 2

Put (more) simply, relative positioning will visually shift the contents of the relative element, without affecting its place in the page flow. Margins, on the other hand, push or pull elements relative to their natural position, and so affect layout.