Friday Joke of the Year

[Franki]

Got this as an explanation when I queried why the site (being built) is made with tables, nested tables no less:

(some who's title in their signature is "web developer"):
I also had a quick look on Google to see if DIVs are indeed better and/or smarter to use than nested TABLES and the major concensus seems to be that DIVs are newer technology but not ‘better’ technology and that the old-school TABLES can offer more concise cross-browser-support than DIVs, being that DIVs are newer. In speed benchmarks the two were found to be on par with one another. In tiny websites DIVs are favoured, as they can offer on-the-fly resizing, but on sites as large as the *** nested DIVs would be messier than our tabled structure.

[scross]

Bahahahahahaha!

Sounds to me like someone was trying to bamboozle you....

[Al]

Makes sense. Whenever my divs start malfunctioning and I've called support centres and they don't offer concrete support on this kind of bleeding edge technology. Maybe wait for the next release so they are more stable and can multitask?

[kay]

It's funny, but just last week I helped a print designer move a site for one of his clients to new hosting, and it was totally static html (not even DW templates, so to update a menu you updated every single page), HORRIBLE invalid table barf with frames and javascript errors etc. Turns out that over the last two years no fewer than four separate "developers" have worked on it for this guy and not one said "holy crap batman, that's no how ye do it!" as they should have (and as I certainly did).

So not only are there developers from last century out there, there's seemingly quite a few of them *shudders*

[nebbian]

I must admit to using tables occasionally when it's not feasible to use DIV's... like when you dynamically add items to a menu that must resize properly... there's probably a 'proper' way to do it using DIVs but my way works just fine for me...

However one level of nesting is enough for any sensible developer

[kay]

I can say with a clear conscience the only layout tables I've used in the last six years are for email newsletter layouts.

[WorldFamousWebdeveloper]

Tables AND DIVs are both part of HTML specification.

I use BOTH where and when needed.
As does this very Forum.
Do a "View Source" and you will see both tables and div's being used for the layout of this site.
A little ironic given the "DIV's" only attitude of the Posts

[kay]

I said LAYOUT tables. Tables for tabular data are fine. I think most people here are more than familiar with the difference.

[WorldFamousWebdeveloper]

Originally Posted by kay

I said LAYOUT tables. Tables for tabular data are fine. I think most people here are more than familiar with the difference.

As am I.
There are more tables being used by vBulletin for Layout usage rather than tabular data.

I am not defending the use of either, only stating that tables do have a (Granted limited) place in modern HTML website designs

Use of Too many Nested Divs is as much a No-No as nested Tables.

BTW Much was made of my use of Joomla! 1.5.x , It uses DIV's and validates as XHTML 1.0 Transitional unlike a lot of competing supposed superior CMS'es

[kay]

Originally Posted by WorldFamousWebdeveloper

There are more tables being used by vBulletin for Layout usage rather than tabular data.

With forums, what's tabular data and what's layout is often up for debate.

Originally Posted by WorldFamousWebdeveloper

I am not defending the use of either, only stating that tables do have a (Granted limited) place in modern HTML website designs

Use of Too many Nested Divs is as much a No-No as nested Tables.

I disagree. Tables are not for layout, they're for tabular data. Are we really debating this in 2010? HTML and CSS give you all the tools you need to create pretty much any kind of layout you want. If a developer can't produce a layout without resorting to inappropriate use of semantic elements, that's a reflection on the developer's skill. And If you're nesting anything too deep there's a good chance you're doing it wrong.

Originally Posted by WorldFamousWebdeveloper

BTW Much was made of my use of Joomla! 1.5.x , It uses DIV's and validates as XHTML 1.0 Transitional unlike a lot of competing supposed superior CMS'es

Producing valid output is only one of the criteria for success for a CMS...