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

@toddhd, advocating the use of tables for layout simply to save time is a cop out. If time is the issue, then you can quickly create a columnar layout without tables using a framework like Blueprint CSS or 960 Grid.