OK folks,

What is the point of this thread? My personal bias is towards not using tables for presentational markup (I still have sites up that do). If you have data or information that is suited to a table then put it in one. You can add all the images and tacky animated gif's you want without using tables if you know how to use background images and divs correctly. The advantages of this method is that you don't have to rebuild complex sliced graphically designed interfaces in PShop or FWorks everytime you want to add or change a Nav button. There are examples of sites that even still use graphically replaced buttons for navs so the designer has typographical control over the typface but this is done using CSS.

They key benefits of using (X)HTML for the document and all presentational markup in CSS is that the client has lower maintenance costs, sites can degrade gracefully when no images are on, or if there is no CSS support. By eliminating tables for a client's design I was able to reduce his page weight by 60%. The layout is visually identical but I got rid of all the spacer gifs and table code. In addition the result was easier for him to add content as the base page was only 75 lines not 175.

BTW there is nothing wrong with flash if it is for exciting motion oriented content. But PLEASE stop with building the entire site in flash with flash buttons and a 35 second intro to get to a site for the local animal shelter. Just because you can doesn't mean you should. Having integrated flash content within an entertaiment site is a fine idea if it will lead to a customer buying a product or service. If it is there because the company thinks flash is neat is a joke.

Any way that is my $0.02 CAD ($0.0158765 USD)

Jay