Should Tables be avoided in HTML at any cost?

Question

It is advisable to use tables in HTML pages (now that we have CSS)?

What are the applications of tables? What features/abilities does tables have that are not in CSS?

Answer 1

I think the reason this comes up so much is that using html tables is easier to understand when creating structure and layout than CSS. Using CSS is more abstract but helps seperate your code.

In response to the "structure" argument...by definition, isn't using html tables giving structure to data so that you identify it as "tabular". Whether it is CSS or html you are controlling the flow and layout of data. Be it tabular or otherwise...

If CSS tables are so important (and I'm sure my answer will start some kind of flame war) why isn't there a mechanism in Visual Studio to create a layout using CSS? Oh, you didn't check the layout feature thingy in VS? Yeah, you get tables, straight from Microsoft. I'm not complaining, just making the point that if it meant as much to the rest of the world you would see MS switch to CSS.

In my opinion do what fits best with your project. For one or two page web projects I still use html because what it does is obvious. Using CSS is more abstract and some mornings I just haven't had that much coffee. HTML tables can get messy, fast. CSS takes a little more time to get messy but will too.