Posted by Matthew Weier O'Phinney on 05/09/05 18:59

* Mikey <frak@totalise.co.uk>:
> I have just come back from the client visit and one of the issues that
> arose was over the use of accessible markup, more specifically the use
> of tables versus the use of layers.
>
> Now, my long held belief was that div/layers were added to the spec so
> that designers could separate presentation markup from content - that
> is, use positioned layers for laying out content, use tables for
> tables of data as they were originally intended. However, my client
> seemed adamant that it was the other way around and that the use of
> tables was preferred owing to browser compatibility issues.
>
> Now, I have just had a look around w3 and have found some inferences
> that support my view but nothing that states clearly in either
> direction. Does anyone on this list have a definitive answer for this
> one?

You have it correct, theoretically, regarding accessibility. Tables
should be used for tabular data, divs for presentation and layout.

However, many people confuse accessibility with consistency; they want a
look-and-feel that works the same no matter what the browser. (Why they
feel this is accessibility is anybody's guess, but I've seen it a number
of times). In this latter arena, on a practical level, tables are
typically your best bet.

I've done a lot of tableless and table-based layouts, and the
unfortunate fact of the matter is it's a lot easier to create a layout
that is consistent cross-browser and cross-platform using tables. Until
IE supports the CSS2 'display: table-*' elements (which is the easiest
way of creating columns of the same height), this will continue to be
the case.

Now, this does not mean you should create a bunch of nested tables for
the layout. I find that a simple skeleton made of a table with a few
columns can create the basic page layout, and then I use as much CSS as
I can within (unordered lists for navigation menus, floats to position
image/caption pairs, etc.). This combines some of the best of both
worlds, and creates a fairly accessible page at the same time.

As in all things, it's a matter of balance.

--
Matthew Weier O'Phinney | WEBSITES:
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