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Why, Oh Why Are Tables So Bad?
We “all know” that tables are bad for web design. They are terrible. They shouldn’t be used. Web designers look down on them. But why? (…)
We “all know” that tables are bad for web design. They are terrible. They shouldn’t be used. Web designers look down on them. But why?
Believe it or not, when I asked the question to a web designer: “Why are tables bad?’ I couldn’t get a straight answer. The answer I got was: “They are not made for layout.” I said to myself that one could design with tables, so why are they not meant for it? I am a print designer, and only recently I have started to look at the fascinating world of web design. And it is a fascinating world, which has rules to follow and standard practices that will give astounding results when used right. In my quest for the answer to why tabls are so violently depracated, I found the answer in an article by Maxine Sherring, westciv’s director. Maxine says:
There are many good reasons not to use tables to create web page layouts: unnecessarily complication code, they defy the most basic rule of information storage and retrieval by mixing content with appearance, they destroy logical document flow, and most of all, they were not a tool which was created to do this job. Why continue using them when CSS has a whole suite of far superior page layout features, with the added bonus of streamlined code, separation of content appearance and caomplete control over logical document flow?
These are just some of the reasons why tables should not be used in web design. Maxine explains all of the reasons in her article The layout is dead, long live the layout.
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When using tables to create Web layout, I always did get the feeling that though they worked rather well, it wasn’t exactly what they were meant to do.
Perhaps it was seeing all those
<td>'s and </td>'s, etc…they’re not too big but, use a few here, use a few there, pretty soon you’re talking about a biiig block of code.Particularly with GoLive CS2 there is now an option for choosing between table-based layout and CSS-based layout. The difference in code throwweight alone that I’ve seen proves out Maxine’s comment.
DESIGNORATI
I was wondering whether with CSS you could still use WYSIWYG applications. Do you know if Dreamweaver can do that?
P.S.: I do know that GoLive isn’t just a WYSIWYG application, but it does have that capability.
I’m afraid (short shameful public confession) I’m not that good at either GoLive or Dreamweaver. As far as CSS, I’m just discovering it along with everybody else.
I mean, style sheets don’t confuse me. But something about CSS just makes it so darn odd. But I am working on learning it too.
DESIGNORATI
I’ve been using Dreamweaver for 7 years now, and I can tell you hands-down that using tables is a necessity in web design. There has been a recent wave to jump over to CSS, using WYSIWYG tools, but without fundamentals, it’s pretty difficult to be great.
Case in point:
I went to recording school in the early 90’s, when there were not too many digital systems that were affordable. Everyone was starting to get the home multitrack recorders that used cassettes. They sounded horrible, and rightfully so. Then a decade later, this wave hit where digital multitracks were finally accessible. We now have the power to use the same technology that the pros are using right on our desktops. Does that mean that all of a sudden there’s incredible music released now like never before? You know that answer.
I can tell you that when you work with teams, especially developers who will be populating your code with thier code, that it’s a necessity to keep your code accessible for them. There’s allot to understanding tables: working with spacing and cell padding, when to use percentages or code absolute widths, when to use a non-breaking space or to grab a transparent gif… sure they’re difficult at times, but learning the fundamentals will go far. And a plug: get studio8.
What? Me thinks you think that it is still 1997.
Start reading!
Web 2.0 is calling you
Eric, I appreciate your comment, but I was speaking to the comments above. They seemed to be entry level questions, so I gave my opinion.
I start all of my designs in a non-table format - ALWAYS. I use Fireworks, then work from there. My point was that knowing the roots will help you grow.
As a designer, you know this.
I find the argument to be quite useless to even have, considering we are in the age of broadband.
The main reason people started moving away from tables was because it was code-bloat on your Web page, which resulted in slower downloads for the end-user.
Well, we don’t live in a 28.8k modem world anymore. A very good percentage of internet users in North America (where 90% of the internet commerce is done) have some form of broadband. And those users are *generally* the type of folks most people want as customers… they’re affluent and have expendable income.
Personally, the whole Tables vs. CSS thing is about as useful as a Quark vs. InDesign argument… pointless, since both are capable of doing the job quite well.