Tables - Web Development and Design Foundations with XHTML - page 338

FAQ

Is there a way to create a “table-like” page layout with CSS?

Yes; if you'd like to explore using CSS to style table-like layouts on Web pages, check out
the CSS display property. As you may recall from Chapter 6, the CSS display property config-
ures if and how an element is displayed. You've already worked with display:none ,
display:block , and display:inline . Internet Explorer 8 was the last major browser to
add support for the display:table property values. Rachel Andrew's article, Everything
You Know About CSS Is Wrong , at http://www.digital-web.com/articles/everything_you_know_
about_CSS_Is_wrong, encourages developers to embrace the display:table coding
methods. Be aware that this technique is still quite limited. For example, there is no built-in
mechanism to emulate the rowspan or colspan attribute in XHTML tables. However, this is
in the works with the CSS3 draft recommendation at http://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/
current-work, which includes new CSS specifications for working with multicolumn layouts
and grid positioning.