In the world of web design, tables are out and divs are in.  But I don't care; I still use tables.  Why?  Because divs and CSS are close to impossible to conquer.  I would classify myself as someone who can learn things pretty easily, and I've learned many computery things in the past.  One of the reasons I still have a website is because I like to learn new website things.  It's a hobby.  I enjoy it.  But whenever I try to fit in with the cool crowd by trying to use divs, I fall flat on my face and run to my room crying.  Positioning with CSS is an art form.  Why do you think there are a bazillion CSS tutorials out there?  Because it's not easy!  And when it comes down to it, I'd rather do an easy thing that works than a cool thing that requires more effort. 

One of the arguments supporting the use of divs is that styling is much easier to change on the fly with CSS.  But my position is this:  So are tables!  Tables can use id and class attributes just as well as divs.  Plus, with the mass advent of content management systems (such as WordPress), this argument is no longer even an issue.  Websites no longer consist of a bunch of pages that each have their own style and layout.  CMS-based websites consist of theme files that can be easily edited to display data a certain way.  Masses of posts and pages can be stylistically changed with little to no effort at all. 

One of the things I hate the most about divs and CSS is how difficult it would be to redesign my current site with these "languages".  There's so much learning and tweaking involved.  And for what purpose?  To display the same data, the "right" way.  CSS isn't even a real language; it's merely a method of displaying data.  And I've tried it before.  Using containers and min-width to try to make things resizable.  It's just so pointless.  Tables are easy:  width, border, padding, spacing.  No floats or position:relative nonsense. 

Another argument against tables is that tables are meant to display tabular data.  First off, who cares?  I could argue that my site consists of tabular data, seeing that it pulls all its information from a MySQL database.  But besides that, who cares what the method is meant for?  Some people cite the idea that certain browsers may eventually become standards-compliant, thus disabling certain functionality (specifically the use of tables for layout, or something along those lines).  My opinion on that is:  I'll worry about it when it happens.  Seeing that most browsers still have the functionality to display older versions of HTML (from the mid 90s), I'm not worried about a newer browser not being able to display my tables. 

Yet another argument against tables is that they cost more bandwidth.  If that kind of bandwidth is an issue, get a real web host (like Dreamhost, offering 1TB of bandwidth per month).  Or stop using stupid things like spacer GIFs and margin columns.  Tables have spacing and margin attributes; use them. #technology