HTML Utopia: Designing Without Tables Using CSS

1.2. The Basic Purpose of CSS

CSS emerged as a standard for Web page design, in large part, as a reaction to the overuse of excessively complex tables to force precision layout upon a medium that was not originally intended for such a purpose. While this is a bit of an oversimplification of the facts, it's hardly an unfair one.

After a brief series of skirmishes at the beginning of the Web's development, the question of who should control the overall appearance of a page or site ended with the designers as victors. In fact, hardly a shot was fired. Users, after all, eventually care most about usability, accessibility and convenience, rather than the nitty-gritty details of design techniques.

Though flush with their victory, designers found ...