Rick Faircloth wrote:
> Your example below is impressive, Georg, for sure.
>
> But just look at the CSS hoops you had to jump through
> just to get what looks like a simple table.
>
> Why go to so much trouble avoid using <table> ?
> Just because you can or is there a more compelling reason?
>
> I'm relatively new to the CSS scene, so these are sincere questions.
>
> Rick
>
Hi, Rick.
George's example is a quite complex one (from my point of view,
anyway), so that, and the lack of standard support by IE (and some
others?), is probably the reason why you see such code.
Anyway, back to your question: Why not using a table? As George said
before, that's simply because the data shown is not tabular data. For
tabular data we will understand that which has no sense if not seen in
such a way (tabulated), e.g. a calendar. Now, aside from this, tables
are actually complex elements, and as such, they have been problematic
or "expensive" to deal with by browsers and other softwares (like
screen-readers).
There are cases, though, where the desired layout calls for the help
of a table, and although basically everyone here would ask you not to
use it (or simply to use another layout) it could be your best or even
only choice. If I recall correctly, George had to make use of JavaScript
to make IE's behave as desired.
But I went beyond the topic, the point here (and what semantic
markup is about) is to use the actual HTML elements that are supposed to
enclose your data, like using <address> for addresses (of course), <kbd>
for keyboard sample, <code> for code (duh!), <samp> for sample output,
<def> for definitions, <abbr> for abbreviations, <p> for paragraphs,
<dl>+<dt>+<dl> for definition lists (such as glossaries), etc. And not
using <blockquote> just because you want to indent the code, or using
<p><br></p> to add some spacing.
I hope this helped, and sorry if I bored you along the way.
Rafael.
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