[jQuery] jQuery UI 1.6rc6 - how to sort tabular data?

[Sam H]

I know you can't actually sort tables, it's kinda broken.  I can
easily sort UL lists, but whenever I try to use float: left and width:
XXXem to give set widths to each span, e.g.:

<li><span class="id">32</span> <span class="name">Bob Jenkins</span></
li>

#list li {
        clear: left;
}
#list li span {
        float: left;
        background: #ddd;
        margin: 1px;
}
#list li span.id {
        width: 2em;
}
#list li span.name {
        width: 12em;
}
#list li span.desc {
        width: 12em;
}

Well, the "float: left" seems to break sortable().  If I remove the
float left, it works fine.

How do I make each SPAN an exact set width?  The only thing that seems
to work is float:left combined with setting the 'width'.  I'm just
trying to make my UL look like a table so sortable() will work.

Thanks..