3 ms·
Tables should be used for data, not for layout.
by zzo38computer 6y ago
Tables should be used for data, not for layout.
- wildrhythms 6y agoThis is true, <table> elements are for tabular data. But look at almost any web layout, and you will notice things are in a table layout most of the time. Even flexbox conceptualizes the flow of children as flex-direction: row/column. I think tabular concepts like rows and columns just make sense to humans making websites, and our 2D x/y axis conditioning. The real issue with using <table> is semanticism, breaking DOM flow (sometimes creates issues for screen readers), and separation of concerns wrt data and style like you mentioned. Also, <table>s are hard to style over, like wtf is display: table-cell? Nobody seems to know. But the number of times I see a colleague or fellow frontend cretin re-creating a tabular interface with a bunch of <div class="row"> etc... or wondering how to dynamically size the nested columns to fit the largest cell, I remind them: just use a table. Please. You might notice that Hacker News layout uses <table>.
- core-questions 6y agoAll I can say is whatever, man. The semantic web and all the RDF tuple goodness we were supposed to get is mostly a dead dream. Make whatever works for your users. Accept that things aren't going to be pure and perfect. If tables gets me to where I need to be, then that's what I'll use. Worked 20 years ago, works now, will work 20 years from now too.