The essential reason non-tabular data shouldn't be represented as a table is because HTML tables coerce a particular presentation, whereas you can use CSS to ar

The essential reason non-tabular data shouldn't be represented as a table is because HTML tables coerce a particular presentation, whereas you can use CSS to arrange data in a tabular presentation if you want, or if you want to do it differently, just use a different set of CSS. The whole concept of tabular data is a concession to people who insist that they have to use tables.