Tables or divs...divs or tables?

Report · Jan 19, 2009

Greetings and salutations for the New Year, one and all...

I have posted a few queries here regarding table use versus divs and have learned a little with each new post. Thus, for all of you who have helped, I must thank you here at the beginning.

Now, from what I have gathered, tables are still a popular item to use to contain data WITHIN a web page, but NOT a good idea to use to structure a complete page. Did I get that right?

Anyhow, here's the question du jour, and I need as many comments on this as possible because I am ready to develop some new page designs and your input will help me decide what to do:

I have charge to design a page that will showcase thumbnails, in a grid format, that will themselves be links to various photo sets and videos. In the past, I have used floated divs to create my grid format, but after reading things here, I am wondering if a table would be such a bad thing.

SO: Should I continue my use of floated divs or should I use a table to contain the thumbnails and their associated links? I'm asking for opinions, what you would do and why.

To stir the pot further, I will be adding new thumbs every week, so the options are adding more divs or adding to the table, in either case adding more code. Again, your suggestions please.

Your help is very sincerely appreciated, thank you all in advance.

Cheers,

wordman

Report · Jan 19, 2009

> Now, from what I have gathered, tables are still a popular item to use to
> contain data WITHIN a web page, but NOT a good idea to use to structure a
> complete page. Did I get that right?

Mostly, yes.

> SO: Should I continue my use of floated divs or should I use a table to
> contain the thumbnails and their associated links? I'm asking for
> opinions,
> what you would do and why.

Whichever is easier for you to build and maintain is a good suggestion, I
think (especially in this particular case). However, doing the same thing
with floated divs is awfully simple too.

--
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Adobe Community Expert
(If you *MUST* email me, don't LAUGH when you do so!)
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"Wordman-GL" <webforumsuser@macromedia.com> wrote in message
news:gl301g$b6g$1@forums.macromedia.com...
> Greetings and salutations for the New Year, one and all...
>
> I have posted a few queries here regarding table use versus divs and have
> learned a little with each new post. Thus, for all of you who have helped,
> I
> must thank you here at the beginning.
>
> Now, from what I have gathered, tables are still a popular item to use to
> contain data WITHIN a web page, but NOT a good idea to use to structure a
> complete page. Did I get that right?
>
> Anyhow, here's the question du jour, and I need as many comments on this
> as
> possible because I am ready to develop some new page designs and your
> input
> will help me decide what to do:
>
> I have charge to design a page that will showcase thumbnails, in a grid
> format, that will themselves be links to various photo sets and videos. In
> the
> past, I have used floated divs to create my grid format, but after reading
> things here, I am wondering if a table would be such a bad thing.
>
> SO: Should I continue my use of floated divs or should I use a table to
> contain the thumbnails and their associated links? I'm asking for
> opinions,
> what you would do and why.
>
> To stir the pot further, I will be adding new thumbs every week, so the
> options are adding more divs or adding to the table, in either case adding
> more
> code. Again, your suggestions please.
>
> Your help is very sincerely appreciated, thank you all in advance.
>
> Cheers,
>
> wordman
>

Report · Jan 20, 2009

Wordman-GL wrote:
> SO: Should I continue my use of floated divs or should I use a table to
> contain the thumbnails and their associated links? I'm asking for opinions,
> what you would do and why.
>
> To stir the pot further, I will be adding new thumbs every week, so the
> options are adding more divs or adding to the table, in either case adding more
> code. Again, your suggestions please.

I myself would use floated divs, that way you can have a liquid area
where they live, and no matter what size the viewport is, they just fill
the available space and then repeat to the next line.

How about floated <li> could that be used? Since it is a technically a
list of thumbnails, could that be semantically correct? I have never
seen it suggested before, so maybe its not a good idea, or is riddled
with problems, but it just popped into my head.

Dooza

Report · Jan 20, 2009

Dooza,

Thanks for your input. Personally, I always use fixed-width layouts as I am not a fan of liquid, but that's just a design preference. I would be curious to hear some input on your <li> suggestion from some of the other users here out of curiosity.

Many thanks,

wordman