Use of Tables?

[Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>]

Shelly Kapoor wondered: <<What is your view on using Tables to  
control text layout in the browser?>>

The first question to ask is whether it's truly necessary to control  
the text layout, or whether you're just "font fondling". The great  
advantage of online information in general and Web-based text in  
particular is that it's customizable: I don't have to put up with  
your fonts, window size, or layout if I don't like your design  
choices. We ignore that flexibility at our peril.

<<Is there a better alternative to using tables?>>

Depends entirely on your answer to my question about your goals. If  
the goal is to present hierarchically organized columns of  
information, just like in a classic printed table, then the table  
feature is your best choice. If the goal is complete control of the  
visual image down to the last pixel, then a graphic or PDF is your  
best choice.

Intermediate situations suggest that either a table or CSS may be  
appropriate, depending on your goals. I'm a big fan of the potential  
of CSS, but don't have any axes to grind about tables: they work just  
fine for many purposes, and CSS is often overkill. CSS provides much  
more layout flexibility, assuming you spend some time making sure the  
layout will work in a range of browsers (i.e., keep it simple). But  
my sense (not based on rigorous testing) is that tables work more  
consistently than CSS across a range of browsers, and that's a point  
in their favor.

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Geoff Hart   ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca

(try geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com if you don't get a reply)

www.geoff-hart.com

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