CSS vs Tables - Is the tide turning?

[sasguru]

Yes, yes, that's what I meant - I would have thought it was implied in a discussion of relevance solely to web developers

[chicane]

At least most (all?) browsers can render complex table markup accurately. The same cannot be said for the CSS box model. You can make a page that renders slightly differently in IE7, FF, Opera, Safary etc.

Not true - since IE6 (with its correctish box model in strict mode) became mainstream we've been able to enjoy a consistent box model across all browsers. If you're not getting consistent rendering across different browsers and/or platforms, it may be that you're not overriding the default styles of each browser or failing to use some of the more obscure CSS properties such as "line-height" to ensure consistent heights across different platforms with different font metrics.

There are some odd browser bugs (especially in IE6) but these are well known and any developer worth his/her salt will be able to work around them.

[TheBigYinJames]

There are some odd browser bugs (especially in IE6) but these are well known and any developer worth his/her salt will be able to work around them.

... by using a sodding great <TABLE>

[NickFitz]

Also, CSS has stupid uncontrollable crap like 'Margin Collapse' which tries to second-guess the designer's intention and leaves him no control over the rendering.

I wouldn't argue that the collapsing margins section of CSS 2.1 is the easiest bit of prose to follow, but it's hardly "uncontrollable crap" - it's a clearly specified component of the spec and is implemented consistently. By understanding it as part of the box model you can work with it very easily.

If it wasn't in there you'd find a lot more uncontrollable inconsistencies when trying to layout a body of text in multiple paragraphs.

[DimPrawn]

Mods, please move this purely Technical and boring post on box models, collapsing borders and floating divs to Technical, as it has no bearing on house prices whatsoever.

[alreadypacked]

Mods, please move this purely Technical and boring post on box models, collapsing borders and floating divs to Technical, as it has no bearing on house prices whatsoever.

[Ardesco]

One thing that many wannabe web developers miss is that once you put your content into tables you have made your site pretty much unusable for anybody that needs to use a screen reader.

Yes it can be a lot more work to make your CSS layout look good in all the browsers, and it is not always easy, but a screen reader will make your website appear as it should to people using a screen reader, tables will not.

I know I'm guilty of using tables on my sites and it is something that will be fixed eventually (Not that many blind people are going to be interested in renting a game server anyway...).

I have spent a lot of time testing websites for accessibility in the past year and it is shocking how bad the majority are....