Why tableless design, DIV vs. TABLE

Everybody says avoid tables when you are creating design elements like layouts, themes, pages... Why?

Because:

  • Main
    (X)HTML says; tables are for tabular data not for website-layout
  • Speed
    Tables have much design code than content, divs are faster for download. Save bandwidth!
  • Usability
    Tables let confusing while creating layout(You have to remember which TR or TD ends in which template file)
  • Debug
    Debug is easier with CSS, mostly all design code is in one css file
  • Update
    Change design anytime just using css-style files without need to touch template files
  • Overview
    With CSS you can separate design from code.
  • Cache
    Most CMS support cache for CSS. Less work for server-cpu and more speed for visitors.
  • Print
    Printing pages in css-layout are easier than pages with tables
  • Position
    Absolute or fixed positioning is not avaliable for table-cells.
  • Priority
    With tables you cannot set priority of content. (Browsers scan from top to bottom)
  • Access
    Disabled people who surf with help of special devices cannot get the content of pages with tables in the right order.