3 Comments on “I just built a website design in Dreamweaver, using tables, Do I really need to use CSS?”

1. Dan
   November 6th, 2006 at 9:50 am

   It affects both and neither. Depends what you are trying to be compliant with.

   But the programmer is right. Tables are passe/obsolete and should be replaced using CSS layouts at the very least.

2. Andy Barnes
   November 9th, 2006 at 3:38 am

   It will effect both the programmer and the end user.

   Firstly, the programmer can make changes to the site and updates much more easily when the site is designed with css in mind. Occasionally one small change on a css stylesheet can change the whole look of a website for the better, whereas the way you have designed it; you will have to go through every page and make the changes manually.

   End users may not see any difference’s, but people with eyesight problems etc rely on a screen reader which basically reads through your website – and these don’t deal too well with tables…

   Remember, rule of thumb… Tabular data (stats tables, calenders etc) use tables, pretty much everything else, use div’s.

3. Triple Threat
   November 10th, 2006 at 1:01 am

   Well, tables are depreciated, and search engines don’t play nice w/ them…tables are for data like product specs. Today to keep up w/ web standards is to use CSS and HTML together for layout (using DIV tags for example)…

   Your programmer has every right to demand this…I would never design w/ tables anymore, haven’t done so in over a year….

   best to stay compliant because the web standards move SO FAST you need to keep up!

   Google Why use CSS instead of Tables for layout and you will then get a better idea on its importance.

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