Do forum threads justify the use of tables?

In other words, are forum threads considered tabular data?

[JAB Creations]

About a year ago I cleaned up a lot of the default junk HTML that comes in the default skin in vBulletin. It took me probably a couple hours to recreate a tableless template for the thread.

I am wondering if (by the highest possible standards only) if forum threads should or should not be considered tabular data?

- John

[Robin_reala]

I’ve thought about this a fair bit and decided that it’s probably not too big a bend of the rules. For what it’s worth, I’ve only ever come across one board (Vanilla) that doesn’t; it uses lists instead.

[JAB Creations]

Well let me rephrase the question: how do you define tabular data?

- John

[Robin_reala]

A tabular datum (sic?) is a piece of information that describes the intersect of two sets.

For example, the data you’re currently reading describes the intersect of the set “all conversation” and “fourth time slice”. The data to the left of this is the intersect of “user information” and “fourth time slice”.

Yes, it’s tenuous :)

[edited by: Robin_reala at 12:59 pm (utc) on Nov. 11, 2006]

[jessejump]

It has something to do with a Header row which describes related data in the columns.

Data isn't just randomly put in cells. It's not just a grid.

[jessejump]

I wonder why more people haven't replied to this question. This is, after all, the ultimate question for these times - the table, what is tabular data, should I, what to do?
Then again, does it really matter at all?

[Ingolemo]

In my opinion, putting the thread list (You know; thread title, date started, date of last post, last post by, etc) into a table should be okay.

But I don't think you can justify putting the content of the thread (ie, the posts) into a table unless you can bear one row per post.

Semantically invalid IMHO:

<table>
<tr><td rowspan="2">ingolemo</td><td>Post #1, posted on 1st jan 1970<td></tr>
<tr><td>Well, my opinion is...</td></tr>
...
</table>

Semantically valid, but a little inelegant:

<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Post number</th><th>User</th><th>Date</th>
<th>Content</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>1</td><td>ingolemo</td><td>1st jan 1970</td>
<td>Well, my opinion is...</td>
</tr>
...
</tbody>
</table>

[kaled]

The arguments for using CSS instead of tables are (supposedly) simplicity and elegance (and possibly versatility/future proofing).

1) Tables will continue to be supported by all browsers.
2) If you understand both tables and CSS and decide that tables provided a simpler, more elegant, more versatile solution then you should use tables.

There are a lot of people that think tables are amateurish, evil, etc. etc. Quite simply, disregard these views - there are a lot of idiots in this world and it's never a good idea to follow their advice.

As Ingolemo hinted, the best solution may be to use both.

Kaled.

[Robin_reala]

This isn't about tables to layout though, this is about tables for data.

[tangor]

Data tables generally display information that benefits from a column header and/or a row header, where the row or column information represents a complete set.

ITEM COLOR COST
Dog Brown $1
Cat Black $1

The backend of a forum uses similar data sets to maintain order and present information, but the subjective view of the user is individual posts nested inside topics, nested inside forums.

[JAB Creations]

Perhaps tabular data can be defined as a repetitive series of the same type of information?

- John

[Robin_reala]

You disagree with my definition?

[floriniri]

I use vBulletin tabular structure because it's easy to changfe the layout, the look and so on. Adding css to it makes the mix nice and straightforward. So why not using them?

[romaniucc]

I'm using vBulletin as it comes, maybe playing around with css to fit my needs. Add my own header image, and that's about it.