CSS Versus Table : Never Ending Story

Since CSS layout invented, most people are leaving the Table Layout. Most think that CSS layout has faster performance than Table Layout. The question is, "is that true?"

Ok, let's begin the argument,

There are many mis-informed people that think that CSS Layout reduces the web page's size dramatically for a large table using CSS. The clue here is "large table". .Let's see 100 to 500 or more rows.

" Using CSS Layout would make a 500 row table display faster." 

Have you ever actually written the CSS Layout for a 500 row table? It's incredibly large to say the least. Next, the user would have to download the CSS Layout stylesheet for a 500 row table and that the CSS Layout stylesheet could easily be larger in size than the data in 500 row table in the first place. You could easily be asking the user to essentially download your CSS Layout 500 row table web page twice!!

What good is it to say that CSS Layout is faster than tables when you can't even make or maintain a CSS Layout table in the first place? That's even worse than saying, "The fastest way down this mountain is to jump off the edge of that cliff over there." CSS Layout , realistically, cannot and should not be used to make a 10, 20, 100, or 500 row table in the first place as you couldn't even maintain it, or for that matter, even build a 500 row table in CSS Layout anyway. So CSS Layout loses on the very point it trumpets to the world: 'its so-called advantage of speed over tables'. Second, CSS Layout loses again on another point (that's just as important), maintainability."