Tables are for displaying data, not styling. They worked in the past because there was no alternative but they are the wrong tool for the job; like cutting a board with a hammer.

[–] lvxferre@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Any tool or resource is for whatever usage people make out of it.

The distinction between data and layout is not some inviolable dogma.

Tables still work in the present, even if there are alternatives nowadays.

like cutting a board with a hammer

Frankly, that is a short-sighted and really dumb analogy.

A hammer won't be able to cut the board. A table will however be able to create the basic layout of a site.

A better analogy would be cutting some wood with a knife. Sure, if the chunk of wood is really thick you'll waste a lot of time doing it, and you'll probably want an axe or saw instead; but even the knife will do it. However, if it's just some thin branch, the knife will do the trick.

And it's the same deal here. If you're making a huge site, full of SEO and machine-generated "content" and 4MiB of Javascript and lots of "marketing opportunities" (i.e. spam = advertisement) from your "associate partners" (i.e. spammers = advertisers), that's going to be maintained by some intern, you'll probably want to use CSS. But if you're making some simple homepage,

    <table><tbody><tr><td>
        side panel
    </td><td>
        main content
    </td></tr></tbody></table>

will do the trick. For everything else, it depends.

[–] nickwitha_k@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 1 year ago

A hammer won't be able to cut the board.

Not with that attitude it won't. I assure you that, with enough tenacity and/or a large enough hammer, one can absolutely cut a board.

Your analogy is definitely closer though. However, I'd say it's closer to using a flathead screwdriver to chop a mortise. Possible, without too extreme of measures but results are unlikely to be optimal, to hold up well to a heavy load, or offer fine controls.

A simple site, like something that could work on Gopher or Gemini, or simple home page will absolutely do fine though. And, if that's what's required to avoid SEO trash, I'll live.