Demaestro - 6:28 pm on Mar 8, 2008 (gmt 0)

For SEO purposes many will argue that divs and css floating is the way to go. BUT hold on there is more to the story.

It really depends on the site in question and what it's purpose is. The fact is that 85% of the end viewers of the site have no idea what is going on in the background and more importantly they don't care.

If your site is a content site and you have ads and your business model is to drive viewers and get revenue from ads then table-less designs and highly SEO'd sites is of primary concern... but if your site is to give you an "online presence" to compliment your brick and mortar store or your local services then it really doesn't matter as long as the site loads fairly quickly, is well organized, and is attractive to the eye ... PHP, CSS, Python, Javascript, HTML, Tables, Divs... this is all noise to the end user. They don't care. They want "sizzle" and "a fresh look". They aren't pulling the source of the page to scrutinize the efficiency of the javascript.

So if your site is something you send customers to and the URL is promoted in your print ad campaigns and is something you want to come up when people do local searches for your business's products or services then tables vs divs is not going to matter again... as long as the site loads fairly quickly, is well organized, and is attractive to the eye.