What is better to use? "div" or "tables"

There has been a trend towards using container elements - div, p, span - with css for structural layout

Tables remain the proper format for tabular data (eg election results, etc)

Coders who use Dreamweaver often generate horrendous files full of nested tables - my theory is that it does it so they need to be edited in Dreamweaver.

Browsers do not display tables until they load completely, so if you are serving complex tables, they can appear more slowly than non-tabled content.

I am not familiar with whois.domaintools.com so I cannot speak to the validity of the analysis. You should make sure your div codes are standards compliant.

sasakakee, I usually stick with divs as they tend to be better for SEO reasons and you have greater control over the page with them. For example in a 3 column design you can make your main content of your page appear as the first thing in the coding but on the page visually it could be in the middle or far right.

Also it's important to look at the factors whois.domaintools.com is looking at for the score they gave you.You might want to really investigate what it was that lowered your score specifically as I bet you can fix that easily and still keep the divs.

My site is running in tables before, it looks good across many browsers until one of my students told me that they cannot access my site using their mobile phone. This gave me some thought, mobile phone is so handy and many youth are using it to surf the web. When I change my design to div, my Google analytics showed a 500+ percent increase in traffic. Most of my students access my site via their mobile phone.

I have to agree with decibel.places. I love my Dreamweaver. It can give you pixel perfect rendering that looks like its printed on a piece of paper. Although, once 'weaved you can never return to editing the page by hand as the human mind cannot grasp the complexities of a Dreamweaver layout table
I think that it's a form of vendor lock-in.

I am using "div" .
It loads faster and if I want to edit my website which has like 50 pages I only have to edit the CSS file.

I'm still real new to the whole idea of web(site) development and am dabbling in many aspects of it to find my niche.

I have some things running in HTML / CSS, some in XHTML / CSS, some ASP, some on Apache, some on iis6 with .net 2.0 some with .net 3.5 and I've yet to publish anything that includes any javascript at all.

One thing all my sites have in common is a use of divs rather than tables for anything I need to put in columns or segregate. I've had some slight issues with IE 6.0 not redering my Apache hosted site correctly but that could have a number of different root cause issues.

IMHO (for all the little experience I have) I like div.

Why tables for layout is stupid (2003).

i am using div . easy

I think div is better option than table.
And may be something wrong on your website css so it is down to 85%

hi, Out of two has it's own functionality then i think that which you need you use it without any hesitation..

Layout tables are old and boring, but tend to be better made in a wide range of browsers. You can have a site full of sexy and CCS2 divs, but may not work well for everyone, unless you spend much time with javascript FI. That may be what is reflected in its rating down ...

Functinality and page speed - divs

I think div is better option because it loads faster.
{links removed}

yes, using div to create a website makes it lighter as compared to tables and also helps in SEO point of view. the drop in seo ranking may be because of some other reasons apart from using 'div'.

If you are creating a website, use of the div tag is better, it provide you a easy method to create website with a proper spacing on website.

There are no effect by this only view is some kind of changed.
div is divisional element of HTML and table is put for the table view like in HTML.

Both are working same but i prefer Table for making page because after it is easy to put other content any where in page is easy.

Tables add a lot of code to websites and should only be used to display tabular data, not to define layout. The layout should be done using CSS features.

A div is a container for other HTML tags and is most useful when the same style is to be applied to a section of HTML. It is not used to display data in tabular form.

You can learn about all these things and more here: HTML Tutorial

My site is at the tables before, looks good in most browsers until one thing I noticed that I can not access my site through mobile phones. I gave some thought, mobile phone, is very convenient and many people use it to surf the web. When I change my div plan, my analysis of Google showed a 500 percent increase in traffic.

Yes the table was in general use since last time but the div is now getting popular because the speed gets advanced for the website. as far as I know it might be due to the change in the code.

Div is much better options for this.
As you know that previously all persons use tables in their websites. And due to change in the field of websites. DIV comes in market. And this is very good in comparison of Tables.

Using Div and css tags is the easiest and flexible way to create quality and professional websites.

div is popular now

who the heck really wants to deal with messy tables today? div tags are the way to go - life table-less!

And, yeah by the way HTML5 has arrived so don't fancy using anymore!

Div is best because it loads very fast. Same case table is a same for using WYSIWYG editors like Dreamweaver. In hard coding you must have to add lots of sorting time to the project.

Table and div tag both have their own advantage if u have to display your contents in the rows and columns format then you can use table tag you can get the same format using div tag also but its simpler by using the table tag and div tag it somewhat similar to paragraph tag
and if you are using images also with the text and to keep the look consistent and os same size then table tag is best

Now a days Div is very much popular in market. It is very easy to use and also any beginner can learn it very easily. I used it my website, you can edit and modify it very quickly.

Webpages created using "Div" tag are lighter in weight and easily loaded on browser as comparison to webpages created using "Tables" but "Div" tag can be used efficiently in creating static pages when it comes to designing dynamic webpages "Tables" become the must part for organizing dynamic controls on a webpage...

div is better option because it loads faster and you can control it by css
as i know google and other search engine doesn't like tabs very much and they prefer div and span .

Tables were considered necessary for layout before IE 6 came out, because CSS support was very different between Netscape and Internet Explorer - the two main browsers of the 1990s.

Happily I began learning Web design in 2002, when IE 6 justly "won the browser wars" as the first browser to conform to standards - albeit the CSS 1, not CSS 2 standard. I never did get the hang of nested tables, and fell in love with CSS - and have never looked back!

When HTML5 has better support we'll be able to use elements that are more meaningful than DIVs and SPANS (which have no meaning). Table-based layouts have long been consigned to the dustbin of history. Check this slideshow from 2003: http://www.hotdesign.com/seybold/06problems.html

There has been a trend towards using container elements - div, p, span - with css for structural layout

DIV is useful for create browser compatible website design, which run in all browser

Divs are for website designs, where the tables are meant to be used for storing data such as stock levels on a website. Using div is more better and good. It is a css property but table is obsolete and more of old html. Most beginners use tables because they are easier to use but divs professionals to build web site design. I would suggest using divs for your website and in the long term will work in your favor, as they will have to change the design after learning to design with divs.

Div is the best because it loads quickly. Table of the same case is the same for the use of WYSIWYG editors like Dreamweaver. The hard coding you must have to add a lot of time to sort out the project.

now there is a trend of table less design. you will get many benefits of having table less design> the most important is , design with table takes too much time to load and give certain restriction compare to div

Table is the old way for layout while div is the current, div is better for CSS especially those pure CSS sites, cleaner codes.. BUT.. if you're a bit lazy and just want dirty codes, go for tables.. I'm still using tables sometimes for programming hehe, lazy me, but ofcourse not on website main pages

I go with div its better to work with them as compared to tables.

There are few dis advantages of the design with table especially when it comes to increase the web speed. Where Design with DIV has few advantage but still according to requirement of your business it may change.

div tables question

Can be done with this:

Now, is there any difference between these two in terms of performance and/or render speed or they're just the same?

Hi, at present time Div tag mostly use for table less and light website designing and it is very easy to use through CSS.

Using div tag is the better concept. Tables are not SEO friendly and it is an obsolete web designing method.

I am newbie in this field. Recently i am also confused between these twos. Than i consult with my teacher. He give me the best idea. He said that div Are the best and commonly used with the help of CSS.

Div is the best as compare to table

it's depend on its need. div is more simple but can not arrange for columns or rows as table have.