css & tables

In order to temper my rush to kill off tables with my new css-based-freedom,
I thought I'd pose the question: when are tables appropriate? I know this
seems like a basic question but is it still appropriate to use tables to
display tabular data and just style it with css? Or is there a better way to
do things which doesn't involve so much html?
R

Ruth wrote:

In order to temper my rush to kill off tables with my new css-based-freedom,
I thought I'd pose the question: when are tables appropriate? I know this
seems like a basic question but is it still appropriate to use tables to
display tabular data and just style it with css? Or is there a better way to
do things which doesn't involve so much html?

Tables are still very important. One such area of importance is, just as
you said, the display of tabular data. You can use CSS to style the data
to your heart's content. The <table> and related tags now become more
important for describing the data in the table.

Also, for accessibility purposes. Assistive technologies like screen
readers and the like can greatly benefit from data presented in a
propertly built <table> (which is off topic for this CSS newsgroup).

Ruth wrote:

In order to temper my rush to kill off tables with my new css-based-freedom,
I thought I'd pose the question: when are tables appropriate? I know this
seems like a basic question but is it still appropriate to use tables to
display tabular data and just style it with css? Or is there a better way to
do things which doesn't involve so much html?

You'll probably get the full spectrum of possible replies, but my
position is that it is much easier to use <TABLE> for tabular data.

I've tried my best to get a CSS "Table" to look as good as an HTML
<TABLE> and failed almost completely.

You'll even run into problems using CSS to tweak your table's
appearances. I wrote two classes for two distinct table types, with and
without borders. Then I tried using the CSS classes in nested tables (of
truly tabular data). I could get the tables working one way around (say
borderless inside one cell of a bordered table) but if I then tries to
do it the opposite way around (bordered inside borderless) then both
tables came out with borders.

Trying to do tables in CSS is like trying to teach a pig to whistle:
http://www.swiftys.org.uk/wiz?282

--
Steve Swift
http://www.swiftys.org.uk/swifty.html
http://www.ringers.org.uk

On 2007-12-17, Steve Swift <Steve.J.Swift (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote:

Ruth wrote:
In order to temper my rush to kill off tables with my new css-based-freedom,
I thought I'd pose the question: when are tables appropriate? I know this
seems like a basic question but is it still appropriate to use tables to
display tabular data and just style it with css? Or is there a better way to
do things which doesn't involve so much html?

You'll probably get the full spectrum of possible replies, but my
position is that it is much easier to use <TABLE> for tabular data.

I've tried my best to get a CSS "Table" to look as good as an HTML
TABLE> and failed almost completely.

You'll even run into problems using CSS to tweak your table's
appearances. I wrote two classes for two distinct table types, with and
without borders. Then I tried using the CSS classes in nested tables (of
truly tabular data). I could get the tables working one way around (say
borderless inside one cell of a bordered table) but if I then tries to
do it the opposite way around (bordered inside borderless) then both
tables came out with borders.

I thought you asked about that at the time, and that I explained what
you were doing wrong. I think your selectors matched both tables but the
selector you didn't want had higher specificity.

That's not a problem with CSS and tables in particular. You could have
just the same problem in situations that didn't involve tables, and
people often do (with nested lists for example).

I don't ask much but you could at least remember every word I write.

Trying to do tables in CSS is like trying to teach a pig to whistle:
http://www.swiftys.org.uk/wiz?282

How apposite