[thelist] HTML Tables for layout rather than strictly for data presentaion

Joshua OIson joshua at alphashop.net
Tue May 8 12:07:28 CDT 2001


I read through part of the w3c recommendation about accessibility (as was
posted earlier today) and noticed the section about tables.  It very
blatantly said that tables should not be used for layout:

http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/WAI-WEBCONTENT-19990505/#gl-table-markup

I immediately asked myself whether or not I should provide the usual array
of design templates to a client for consideration (graphics, etc) plus one
or two mockups that are heavy accessibility and very minimal in table-heavy
layout and graphics.  I'm still weighing both sides of this one, no pun
intended.  Why is it that if the "experts", w3c, Neilson, etc, all say not
to use tables for layout, why do so many of us use tables primarily for
layout?

-joshua





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