This owes at least in part to the fact that tables are not optimized for page layout. And that was especially true 10 years ago. Popular browsers couldn't rende

This owes at least in part to the fact that tables are not optimized for page layout. And that was especially true 10 years ago. Popular browsers couldn't render partial tables, and you had even more performance problems nesting them. Grid based layouts are obviously useful but the table tag isn't the right tool.