I'm wondering what's better - building web pages using tables or Div tags.

I've been weaned on using tables but more recently have been looking at building web pages with Div tags which people tell me is the way to go.

However, when I do build web pages using Div tags/CSS I always seem to run into cross browser compatibility problems - i.e images bursting out over the edges of web pages etc. This doesn't happen when I build them using tables. Can anyone enlighten me on why one should use CSS layout over table layout?

There are cross browser compatibility problems with both tables and div layouts.
I have used both, and in a lot of cases the div works better than tables for a lot of things and it is worth learning, along with all the other CSS techniques. However, using tables for what tables are meant for (that is... tabular data) is generally a good thing.
However, I came up through the days when the table was about the only way complex pages could be put together, and I have a great deal of XSL I've put together over time for generating HTML tables so I still often use that.

I consulted on a project where it was mandated that tables would not be used, and where there were a number of browsers that were required for compatibility - and we ended up using just about every hack we could find (from sources such as the CSS Hacks and Filters book by Joseph W. Lowery as well as dozens of other books and web sites). They spent a lot of money forcing the CSS Div mandate over using tables where appropriate.


Woody Z http://www.learntoprogramnow.com