Table-based webpage design versus CSS-based webpage design: resources

Roughly 66% of all webpages on the web today use tables for laying out elements and positioning them on a webpage. Table-based webpage design was never the purpose of table: table is for presenting tabular data. There are many insidious but huge problems with resorting to tables for webpage layout and webpage design.

• Why tables for layout is stupid. Problems defined, solutions offered. Most possibly the best resource on this issue covering all aspects: it was a seminar presentation, part of a conference in 2003. Translated in 20 other languages.
• Tableless layout HOWTO ( tutorial). Excellent resource
• Tables My Ass. Excellent presentation of pros and cons and of issues involved.
• Tables Vs. CSS - A Fight to the Death.
• Throwing Tables Out the Window. A very bold and amazing article. The author takes the microsoft.com webpage, then removes all of the tables and implements CSS design and reduces the original file size of 62%!
  "If multiplied out by an average of 38.7 million page views per day, that 25 KB savings per page could add up to about 924 GB in bandwidth savings per day, or 329 terabytes per year."
  This amazing article has been translated in 8 other languages.
• Tableless layout with Dreamweaver. DreamWeaver has a 6 parts tutorial on how to use CSS template instead of table design:
  "tables do a pretty lousy job of page construction. Among their shortcomings is the implied bias of the code towards presentation rather than structure, the necessity to nest tables in order to achieve the most basic of layouts, and enough redundant bandwidth-hogging tags to feed a large family of tag eating monsters for literally a month."
• Why should I use CSS layout instead of tables? (alt.html FAQ). Resource from the newsgroup discussion alt.html FAQ
• Ian Hickson, editor of Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group Web Application 1.0, commenting on/about table design:
  "Using HTML tables and HTML images for layout is a very deprecated practice and belongs firmly in the land of quirks mode documents. We should be doing everything in our power to discourage the use of such practices in standard mode." - Ian Hickson
• Seven Reasons to go Table Free. Excellent. Just excellent!
• Practical CSS Layout Tips, Tricks, & Techniques: "Table are dead, Long live tables" (this one may be for advanced users) by Mark Newhouse, August 2001
• W3 Tableless is a site dedicated at promoting tableless webpage designs. The site "validates" a webpage design as tableless and then adds it to a list of tableless designs. Promotional buttons are available.
• Les problémes de la mise en page par tableaux (in French) Tutorial
• Habillage de tableaux avec des CSS (in French). Tutorial
• Toss out your Tables! CSS is the scene! by Charlie Morris, May 2001
• Moving from Tables to CSS: 3 steps to CSS heaven by Web Design Edinburgh, Scotland

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