To Table Or Not To Table - The CSS Debate

[DrussRob]

I've been reading in quite a few different places all over the internet saying that tables are a thing of the past and will sooner than we think be phased out of web programming altogether. The general consensus seems to be that CSS is the way to go for designating areas that would have before been created with tables and that it is better for seo than tables.

Personally, I prefer tables. In my experience, doing total page layout design with css is problematic. It's more tedious than is necessary, becomes messy and overwhelming very quickly, and compatibility is sketchy and uncertain as definitions seem to be added and removed all the time.

So, what do you think? Do you concur with the current self appointed web tech intelligentsia that tables should be muscled out of the picture in favor of css? Is css in fact really better for seo than tables?

[Opserty]

I prefer using CSS where its meant to be used and tables where they are meant to be used. If you know what your doing CSS is hardly that messy. I find it a lot easier to troubleshoot problems by using a CSS layout because areas can be easily identified. Something which is difficult when you are using lots of table cell tags.

[Fraik]

I have to agree with the above. As, in most cases, the forum listings are clearly displayed in structured tables, use those. Where you are not displaying tabular information, use divs! I've seen people opening and closing table rows for one or two lines of info, which is quite a big bump on both server load, file size and also is a way too complicated solution imo.

Also, when using CSS with mostly divs, you can alter the looks of your forum very easily from just a single file.

[DrussRob]

I mostly agree as well. I use a combination of the two when creating pages. But I create the tables and only give them an id and then define the styles through css. On rare occasions the only other thing I hard code into the table is the width percentage.

The thing that drives me nuts is when people expect you to create the table structure on a non-tabled page through css.