Never Use HTML Tables, Ever!

collaboradev.com

1 point·godlikemouse··4 comments

The article recommends that developers avoid tables altogether and re-create table functionality with <div> tags and CSS rules. Don't do that. Do use tables for tabular data - that's what they were designed for. Tables provide important semantic data about the data they contain. Don't use tables for layout - otherwise tables are fine.

Don't use tables for layout.

Why not?

It's a long-standing debate in the web design community. With most coming down on the against side. Not going to rehash it here, but this SO thread is a good place to find arguments for/against:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/83073/why-not-use-tables-...

I've written plenty of table-based layouts. However I can't remember anytime within the last 5 years where I've needed to use a table layout.

My main complaint against table-based layouts would be styling. The order of elements in a document determines where on screen a table cell renders. A position floated div/section/aside can be changed with a single float rule, or clear onto it's own line. I find responsive/adaptive designs easier to implement and maintain when avoiding tables.

I don't understand the motivation for this. The author blithely says to google for something... I must not be using the right keywords. You'd think he could at least link to a few examples.

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