Those Dastardly Tables So i sat trying to create 4 div boxes inside a div with another div on top. Meanwhile next to this I had a div that was supposed to be the height of both the left div and the 4 boxes. It took me 4 hours of researching, and learnin to come up with the bright idea to define a height for the thing I was going to put in the top div, and define the height of the right div, so that the divs coming underneath the four boxes didn't swallow them up. About halfway through, I thought to myself, I bet Adam with his tables could do this in 2 seconds. So the question is, "why are all the cool kid web designers online, who are showing new funky css magic tricks of stuff like sticky footers and page turning and sliding facebook icons always slam tables at every opportunity they can. One guy, I just got through reading, said "back in the 80s when we used tables and had obnoxious repeating backgrounds and flashing banners..." Is it that, they have a point, since to put content on the page it's nested behind table>tr>td for everything? But my above theme attempt was also div > div> div>div with a div that flowed before the last div, making it look like div>div>div to div back to div. I'm mastering 960 grid right now and while it seems easy, if you have a simple layout, anything complex throws a complete monkey wrench in it. Sure there's code already done to help out, but the work arounds for those complex layouts take some retarded measuring, since the margins are preset and you have to try to compensate every single measurement for them. With that said, other than a header, main content, side bar, footer, you're venturing into div div div div div territory with css with 50 lines of definitions and workarounds for I.E. and Opera and Chrome.
There is no CSS versus table debate. You don't use tables for layout. Period. End of story. This subject is never talked about in professional circles anymore. Only on DP and other amateur sites.
uh ... "There is no CSS versus table debate." ... that sounds like al gore saying "the science has spoken and global warming is real". The truth of the matter is, I know some quite profitable professional web developers and web designers who only use tables. They produce some astonishing websites. In fact, I read a piece by a guy giving a tutorial on how to connect 4 pictures, by using tables. Amazing stuff. Dismissing tables is laughable though. And, no, not all "pro" designers only use CSS.