CSS box layout progress currently offers two very powerful systems, Flexbox layout (for mostly adaptive boxes) and Grid layout (mostly for equally sized modules

CSS box layout progress currently offers two very powerful systems, Flexbox layout (for mostly adaptive boxes) and Grid layout (mostly for equally sized modules). You can implement almost all reasonable page subdivisions with CSS, no scripting, no tables, and unless you are too cheap to spend a day or two studying CSS no invasive frameworks. The two examples you give are actually too different to offer specific suggestions.