Sometimes you can do things that could be done with tables with CSS instead; sometimes you can't, or it just becomes close to a waste of time trying (if you find your almost para-implementing tables with CSS + javscript, you're certainly wasting your time).

i guess the thinking is that a table is a restrictive structure (defined in markup) and CSS can be modular (by using different stylesheets)

CSS and tables aren't incompatible or exclusive. If you're being asked to do something without tables, you should ask the person commissioning you if they have a good reason why not to use them; and a reason based on heresay/myth-mongering isn't a valid one.

Here's some myths to dispell:

Myth - Screenreaders can't read tables
Fact - Well organised tables are easier to read in logical order (using a markup-based screenreader) than a load of floating/absolutely placed elements.

Myth - Tables are deprecated in the latest W3C HTML specs.:
Fact - Tables are not deprecated in any HTML or XHTML specification, although the WAI do advise against the use of tables in circumstances where they are inapropriate, or could be confusing if linearized.

Myth - Search engines don't like tables, a site without tables is going to get a lower rank in a search engine.
Fact - Search spiders don't like confusing or invalid markup, but they are intelliigent enough to work out what is markup and what is keywordable data. If your headings and primary keywords are in a table, you could probably organise your page better; but a spider just sees valid block level elements containing text, in the same way it would see any hierachy of block level elements.

Myth - Tables make my markup longer.
Fact - If your markup is shorter without some tables and still does what you want it to, then it probably wasn't neccessary to use those table in the first place. Standard "CSS-only" replacements for tables (which tend to make use of <div> elements in replacement) often contain at least as many <div> elements than <table>,<tr> and <td> elements in a table approach, and often suffer from browser compatibility issues or have a 'breaking threshold' (the point at which either a screen size or data length cause visual messiness) far lower than a table.


This is getting to be something I reiterate quite often. You'll find it's worth researching how to do things using different methods, but it's not worth restricting yourself in any direction for any reason.