There is also this 2003

webwiz — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 16:53:51 +0000

There is also this 2003 article that explains more.

BTW - "table less" is a misleading term. HTML is about meaning - using Hn tags for headings, P tags for paragraphs, and ... tables for tabular data.

Hi Flimsy, This Wikipedia

decibel.places — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 13:29:31 +0000

Hi Flimsy,

This Wikipedia article is a good summary of the pros and cons of using tables.

Table-based layout was a very web 1.0 method of achieving specific layouts, along with transparent spacer images - but it was a kludge, not really using HTML as it was semantically intended.

Table-free layouts may load faster, and they are much easier to modify, and are much more precise, and more compliant with accessibility requirements. Using css you can hide and reveal or overlap elements, make them draggable and more, things you cannot do with the table layout.

You may also want to read about separating content from presentation which is common with CMS sites.

Many Drupal themes are table-free - the TWF website does not use tables (you can check yourself by viewing the source)