[thelist] free shared css for tables?

Rich Points rich at richpoints.com
Sat Aug 27 20:16:23 CDT 2005


> I'm sorry, since when are tables antiquated? They still work perfectly 
> well, and are indisputably more semantically correct for displaying 
> tabular data than, say, <div></div>...<div></div>
>
Perhaps I should have clarified my statement.   I will always use tables 
for tabular data but I would never use them for layout purposes.

Tables are antiquated when:

    * Someone browses your site with a PDA or cell phone
    * Someone browses you site with a screen reader
    * Someone browses  your site with a non traditional browser
    * Other non traditional browsers

There are an increasing amount of non-traditional web browsers like the 
Black Berry being introduced.  I wouldn't be surprised if ipods started 
linking to the web in some way. Who knows what kind of devices are going 
to be browsing the web in the next ten years? 

Web pages aren't going to be rendered exclusively on 15 in or larger 
monitors anymore, the screens are going to be much smaller.  You can't 
stick an 800px wide table into a 200px wide screen.  By using CSS you 
can specify what style sheet renders in a non traditional devices.

There are many other reasons to use CSS which I won't go in to but the 
bottom line is if you want your pages to be viewable to the widest 
audience possible you shouldn't be using tables for layout.


Rich


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