Can we talk about how table-based layouts actually held up better than CSS grids in old browsers?

I keep seeing people trash table-based web design from the 90s, but I rebuilt my old Geocities page last month as an experiment. Used a CSS grid layout first, and it looked terrible on Netscape 4.0. Then I duplicated it with nested tables and cellpadding, and everything stayed in place. Same content, same images, but the table version actually worked across three different vintage browsers. Maybe the old tricks had more solid logic than folks give them credit for. Has anyone else tested their retro site on actual period hardware instead of just modern Chrome?

2 comments

2 Comments

grace5659d ago

I read an article from a guy who runs a museum of old web stuff and he said the same thing. He tested a bunch of vintage sites on actual Windows 98 machines and the tables were rock solid while CSS often broke. Reminds me of how table layouts were basically designed for strict alignment from the start, no guesswork involved. CSS grid tries to do the same thing but it assumes a modern rendering engine that just wasn't there yet. Netscape 4 especially had all kinds of quirks with positioning that tables just side stepped entirely.

betty1269d ago

Wow @grace565 you totally changed my mind, I always thought CSS was better but those old table layouts really were bulletproof.