float:left; vs display:inline; vs display:inline-block; vs display:table-cell;

Question

My Question(s)

1. Are any of these methods preferred by a professional web designer?

2. Are any of these methods prefereed by a web browser when

Answer 1

For the record only, to add to Spudley's answer, there is also the possibility to use position: absolute and margins if you know the column widths.

For me, the main issue when chossing a method is whether you need the columns to fill the whole height (equal heights), where table-cell is the easiest method (if you don't care much for older browsers).