There is this long and old debate whether designers should use tables or not in their html pages. The alternative is to use floated divs.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of both techniques?
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- It's not really a debate. CSS was designed for this purpose. Tables we're not.You should use tables to display tabular information. Not to layout a website. Also this will be closed very shortly :)Turnip– Turnip2012-07-11 18:45:01 +00:00Commented Jul 11, 2012 at 18:45
- If tables get you what you want, use them, regardless of if they are meant for it or not. Be it tabular data or layout.Jawad– Jawad2012-07-11 19:25:35 +00:00Commented Jul 11, 2012 at 19:25
- This question will get closed soon. Very soon!Jawad– Jawad2012-07-11 19:32:23 +00:00Commented Jul 11, 2012 at 19:32
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2 Answers
You shouldn't be using tables to formulate your design. Tables should be used for tabular data, and tabular data only!
Use divs to position things properly, use divs to hold your content. There is no definitely no problem using a table to evenly display data, but there is a problem (poor design) using tables to use as your complete site layout.
1 Comment
Jawad
Yeah and use 30 lines of CSS code just to get them aligned. Vertically & Horizontally.
Floated divs are by no means the only alternative to tables in web design. Although floating divs is a preferred method in setting up a webdesign, there are other positioning methods that work well across all major browsers.
It is generally a bad idea to build your website design on tables, since this limits your possibilities greatly. Using divs and CSS positioning techniques (such as floating) gives you much more control over the design.
Tables are a great tool to set up your data in a structured way, and many web designers prefer to use them for not only tabular data, but also forms, galleries etc.
Advantages of tables: - Easily set up data in a structured manner
Disadvantages of tables: - Less fluency in design
Advantages of tableless design: - much more control. It is possible to make the website look and behave exactly as you want.
Disadvantages of tableless design: - None. Just use tables where you need them
