[thelist] arguments pro css & xhtml / con tables

[Paul Bennett]

Don't tell them about standards - their eyes will glaze over.

Just tell them you'll build them :
1) a fast-loading site that 
2) the search engines will love and that 
3) will be easy to update and 're-skin' whenever needed and
4) uses the current best-practice web dev practices

Don't sell clients standards - sell only the benefits. If they ask (most won't in my experience) then you can go a bit deeper.

If you need a good reference, check out the first part of Zeldman's book 'Designing with Web Standards' - he puts the business case benefits extremely well.

Paul