Div / Span are for markup. Tables are for tabular data. CSS is for layout. Tables are fine when used what they were intended for, otherwise they are just a hack, they should not be used for layout - that's the job of the CSS.

Tables were an early adaptation for controlling layout, as quite simply - they were all there was at the time. People adopted the use of grids to lay out web pages, it was a practice that was widely accepted, and at the time it was a revolution. But times have changed, see more and we now have CSS and web standards.

Now the general acceptance is that content should be contained within markup and css used to render it - that is - tell browsers / printers / phones / screen readers / braille machines / etc how to display it.

Using tables for layout is also bad for content linearisation and consequently also SEO, this is not to mention accessibility. Additionally, the use of tables also seems to encourage the use of inline style.

Admittedly there are quirks for IE that need to be addressed with utilizing Divs instead of tables, but these are all very well documented. There should be no issues getting things to line up in if these quirks are addressed.

In summary - if it looks like it should be in a excel sheet - stick it in a table - if not, don't. And if you want to improve your SEO / content linearisation, then skip tables all together and use Divs.

/DM

Viva le web sémantique