When to use a View instead of a Table?

Question

When should a View actually be used over an actual Table? What gains should I expect this to produce?

Overall, what are the advantages of using a view over a table?

Answer 1

You should design your table WITHOUT considering the views.
Apart from saving joins and conditions, Views do have a performance advantage: SQL Server may calculate and save its execution plan in the view, and therefore make it faster than "on the fly" SQL statements.
View may also ease your work regarding user access at field level.