In the older days, developers used <table> elements for organizing the website contents into rows and columns. It was the easy way to organise the data but later when the standard was increased developers found it was not the best tool for creating the layouts.
Modern tools like CSS make it easier to design flexible, accessible, and maintainable layouts. Tables were never meant for layout, they were built for displaying tabular data. In this blog, we will discuss why table-based layouts are not recommended, with examples, and compare them with CSS-based methods.
Reasons for Not Using Tables for Layout
Using table layouts seems convenient but it has lots of drawbacks:
- Accessibility Problems: Tables are made for showing data, not layouts. This can confuse screen readers and make it harder for visually impaired users to understand your content.
- Messy Code: To create layouts with tables, you often need to nest multiple tables. This makes the HTML code dumped with lots of content and hard to maintain.
- Slower Load Times: If there are many HTML files, this makes the page speed slow.
- Not Mobile-Friendly: Tables don’t adapt well to different screen sizes, making your site look clunky on smaller devices.
- Hurts SEO: Search engines may struggle to index content inside table layouts compared to cleaner, semantic HTML.
Table Layout
A table layout uses the <table> element to organize content into rows and columns on a webpage. It might look neat and structured, but it doesn’t have the flexibility or adaptability that modern CSS-based layouts provide.
Example:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
<title>Table Layout</title>
</head>
<body>
<table width="100%" border="1">
<tr>
<td colspan="2" align="center">Header</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="20%">Sidebar</td>
<td width="80%">Main Content</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" align="center">Footer</td>
</tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>
Output:
The table layout cannot be adjusted to the different screen sizes and modifying the data can lead to changes in multiple elements such as in <tr> and <td> elements. And tables are only for displaying data not for structuring websites.
You can use tables for creating forms and arranging the labels and input fields in a line. You can use the table for creating registration forms, surveys, or invoice forms. Therefore, you get everything looks organized and easy to read
Example:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
<title>Form with Table</title>
</head>
<body>
<form>
<table>
<tr>
<td><label for="name">Name:</label></td>
<td><input type="text" id="name" name="name"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><label for="email">Email:</label></td>
<td><input type="email" id="email" name="email"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><label for="message">Message:</label></td>
<td><textarea id="message" name="message"></textarea></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" align="center">
<button type="submit">Submit</button>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</form>
</body>
</html>
Output:
Explanation: You can find it suitable since the labels and input fields are aligned in a structured manner. The user finds it easy to provide the data since multiple fields are organized properly.
Normal Layout
You can use modern CSS layouts like Flexbox and Grid for better organization. You can use the elements like <div>, <section>, and <article> to make the code clean and maintainable. You can use the CSS layout like Flexbox and Grid for positioning the elements.
Example:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
<title>CSS Layout</title>
<style>
body {
display: flex;
flex-direction: column;
align-items: center;
font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
}
.container {
display: grid;
grid-template-areas:
"header header"
"sidebar main"
"footer footer";
grid-template-columns: 20% 80%;
width: 100%;
}
header, footer {
grid-area: header;
text-align: center;
background: #ccc;
padding: 10px;
}
.sidebar {
grid-area: sidebar;
background: #f0f0f0;
padding: 10px;
}
.main {
grid-area: main;
padding: 10px;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<header>Header</header>
<div class="container">
<aside class="sidebar">Sidebar</aside>
<main class="main">Main Content</main>
</div>
<footer>Footer</footer>
</body>
</html>
Output:
You can use the CSS layout to adapt to different screen sizes, which makes it mobile-friendly. You can make the search engines with better index content within a well-structured HTML document.
Conclusion
You might find a table as an easy way to organize your web layout. However, this is not mobile-friendly and can mess up accessibility and SEO. Modern CSS tools like Flexbox and Grid are better way since they are flexible and clean.
Why should we avoid using tables for layout in HTML? – FAQs
1. Why shouldn't I use tables for website layouts?
You can use the table for storing tabular data. If you use them for layouts, you can face accessibility issues, slower load times, and non-responsive designs.
2. Are table layouts bad for SEO?
Yes, search engines only prefer clean, semantic HTML. Table-based layouts can make it harder for them to index your content properly.
3. Can I ever use tables in web design?
Yes, you can use tables for displaying structured data, such as registration forms or survey designs.
4. Why is CSS better for layouts?
CSS tools like Flexbox and Grid make it easier to create adaptable, responsive, and maintainable layouts.
5. Do table layouts affect website performance?
Yes, they can. Table-based layouts often require more HTML and nested elements, which increases page load times compared to CSS layouts.