is ok to use tables now?

cornkernel

cornkernel

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hi everyone. just a quick question. i did search on google, and most sites said not to use tables. but i know how to make tables, and they're quick to do.

is it bad to use tables in my design? does anyone else use them anymore?

thanks :-)

oh, and - these days are tables compatible with all browsers (or at least most of them)? i thought that was the issue a few years ago, is it still an issue now?
 
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It's 2011, get with the program and learn to use CSS properly. It's not that hard and well worth the effort. :)

Yes you can use tables but you're missing out on a bunch of "semantic web" type stuff you can do with divs / css. You can also get tricky and hide content in plain sight, perfectly legitimately, by using stuff like different stylesheets for accessibility.

I've never tested it empirically myself, but I've had plenty of people that I trust as knowledgeable people tell me that table based layouts do worse for them in the serps than the equivalent div based layout.

My advice would be to keep tables for displaying truly tabular data, and make everything else pure css. As the web moves to xhtml, tables are going to be less and less in favour.
 
Use tables where they are meant to be used, i.e. spreadsheet, data presentation type stuff; for layouts, use CSS. And use tables for e-mail.
 
Meh, don't bother worrying or ending up doing more work just for the sake of being mainstream. G is using tables as well as most of the other significant websites today. They also aren't shy to use frames here and there.

Most of them also do not HTML validate so that's another empty hype.

CSS is very useful for cheating though but that was already mentioned above.
 
I still rank many websites using tables - it's quick, it's easy and they don't seem to affect rankings. I wouldn't go near frames though..............
 
Aside from an SEO standpoint, remember that tables are usually accepted as a slower medium. Takes longer for the browser to configure the output. So regardless of whether or not the SEO value is the same, one may load milliseconds or seconds faster which could be the difference between a conversion and a bounce.
 
Don't use tables - I know google uses them but that doesn't make it right:)

So easy to learn CSS. It makes the code so much tidier- easy to make amendments, it will definitely rank better and will be more accesible.
 
Yes and no.

Use CSS for designing and making everything look pretty. Tables should only be used for what they were meant to be used for: data that should be represented using a table.

If you're the only one who is EVER going to work on the site then you can get away with tables. If its for someone else, then I'd make a website dedicated to making sure you're never hired again. Its 2011. If you don't know CSS and your making websites for people then you're obviously not qualified to do so.

Recently I did work for someone who was using tables in absolutely the wrong way. The result? What I made didn't work because it was meant for a valid layout, not 'what is easiest'.

TL;DR
Use tables if its for yourself
Use CSS if its for anyone else.
 
CSS is used for layout and tables for data. Why? Because that's what each excels at. Yes, you can use a spoon to cut meat, but does that make you smart or efficient?

I consider this a business attitude. I take pride in my work and I would not want anything I produce to be bad quality. And I would not buy anything of lesser quality either.
 
Use what is easier for you, but tables were primary used when CSS support in major browsers (IE especially) was flaky, and tools like DreamWeaver generated code with tables.

cornkernel said:
but i know how to make tables, and they're quick to do.
Click to expand...

I don't see how in 2011 this
HTML: 
<table>
	<tr>
		<td id="header"></td>
	<tr>
		<td id="body"></td>
	</tr>
	<tr>
		<td id="footer"></td>
	</tr>
</tr>

can be better and easier than this

HTML: 
<div id="header"></div>
<div id="body"></div>
<div id="footer"></div>

for building page layout.
 
thanks for the helpful replies everyone. i have decided i won't use tables for the design, but i want to use them for a comparison table type thing, that's why i was asking. do you think that's ok to do?

what i meant by tables being easier and quicker for me to do, was that i already know how to do them, and can get it done now, instead of having to learn something. but you're right, maybe i shouldn't be so lazy :-)

but yeah, the way weedsmoker put it, i think maybe it will be easier. i really have to go and try it out.

thanks everyone!!! :)
 
I use tables who cares, If it looks how I want it to look then its all good and Move on, who gives a shit about if it proper mark up or what not. Im here to make money not to unify some standard on the internet.
 
sapo said:
I use tables who cares, If it looks how I want it to look then its all good and Move on, who gives a shit about if it proper mark up or what not. Im here to make money not to unify some standard on the internet.
Click to expand...

Because doing something using standards (especially web design) saves money and time :rolleyes:
 
sapo said:
I use tables who cares, If it looks how I want it to look then its all good and Move on, who gives a shit about if it proper mark up or what not. Im here to make money not to unify some standard on the internet.
Click to expand...
So if someone were to make you a custom car, you wouldn't care if it adhered to the latest standard internal engineering, so long as it looked good on the outside? That's what I'm getting out of your self-deprecating statement.
 
I'm with sapo on this one. nested divs can in some situations add unnecessary complexity, and in those situations tables are usually much easier to write.

unless there's a lot of data within the table which will take a long time to render, or there's some specific seo goal in mind, I'll just use whichever form happens to be easiest for the task. tables aren't some kind of kiss of death which will sink your rankings because they're somewhere on your page. that said you probably would be better off placing your keywords outside of a table if possible.
 
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