At what point do you change from css to tables?

[matthew1471]

In these days of css vs tables, when laying out data, at what point would you start using tables?

For instance, I have a set of data which is 10 rows by 4 columns, the data is loaded dynamically, but will always be those dimensions.

Would you use tables, or divs? At what dimensions do you think "I'll use a table for this" or "I'll use a load of divs" etc..

These entire rest of my site has zero tables.

 

[rob472]

Tables are meant for displaying tabular data. From what you are saying then a table would be appropriate for your situation. There is nothing wrong with using tables as long as you are using them properly.

 

[Jizzlobber]

Depends on what impact the placement of the data has on the visual layout. Sometimes a table will allow you a more specific tweak of a single element to maintain a more visually appealing spacing. Sometimes it allows you to resolve an issue between IE and Firefox.

 

[matthew1471]

Maybe people (myself included) get too carried away with the idea of a table-less css layout!

It wouldn’t make any difference to the aesthetics of the site, and I’m not sure if there are any page load time differences either?

Having a css layout in place of a table would leave a lot of div’s on one page too… maybe having that many div’s on one page leaves more room for page rendering issues and page longer page load times?

 

[Supergeek]

Tables are meant for displaying tabular data. From what you are saying then a table would be appropriate for your situation. There is nothing wrong with using tables as long as you are using them properly.

Werd.