M@'s Musings

OK, "that's not news" you say. True. It's not. But it seems to be for some. In fact, it's amazing the lengths people will go to avoid using tables. You know what I'm talking about.

But, "It's not semantic", "It's not separating content from layout properly", "It's soOOoo Web 1.0" or many of the other "reasons" to shun tables are mostly, well, _crap_.

There's no way I'll believe that it's better to use a dozen @div@'s and a hundred lines of CSS to accomplish the same as a @table@. Talk about re-inventing the wheel!

bq. Just because you _*can*_ do something, doesn't mean you _*should*_.

Listen, if you have _tabular_ data, or need to use some sort of grid, just _use tables_. Be reasonable, be pragmatic. If you need a hammer, use a hammer, don't use your forehead instead. Sure, they'll both drive nails... _Probably_.

Let me re-emphasize the 'be reasonable' part. Remember, it cuts both ways. _Too many_ tables can be a bad thing, and they can be a crutch. The point of this rant is that you shouldn't _avoid_ using tables, or some other shunned-but-non-deprecated tag, just because it's popular to.

- end of rant -