The problem I see with using tables for layout is that it fucks up the semantic meaning of the html file. But that was an issue of philosophy that got trumped

The problem I see with using tables for layout is that it fucks up the semantic meaning of the html file. But that was an issue of philosophy that got trumped by practical needs. However, nowadays we have css grids with template areas. So we can just write our HTML semantically correct as if it was more or less just about the content (as it should be IMHO) and still move things around using CSS depending on the type of device, size of screen, media used. So the holy grail in my opinion is to write HTML that contains only content and metadata and next to no elements or attributes that are needed purely for semantically irrelevant layout and styling purposes — and then do all the layout and styling in CSS. Styling tags like <em> or the occasional <section class="notice"> are okay, one should never be too strict with such ideals. The advantage here is that this provides the maximum decoupling between the content and the layout/styling which not only helps with future layout updates, but improves the accessability of the page.