Question

My project is re engineering a an HTML data grid constructing using
SQL query generated XML and XSL into an HTML table.

The content of the table is not known at deployment as the SQL used to
build the XML data is generated by the application at runtime.

Given the distaste for tables in the CSS world I am hoping someone has
a better suggestions for what the HTML should look like and what
resources might be helpful dealing with the dynamic nature of domain.

Answer 1

The distaste most web developers have is not for tables themselves, but their misuse – people often utilize tables for content/element positioning on a web page, which is a “no no.” But no one said there’s anything wrong with using tables for display of tabular data – that’s what HTML tables were intended for.

So the answer depends on how the data coming from your DB is structured.

.

Use tables for something like this:

Orders:

--------------------------------------------------------
| Order ID  | Product Name  |  Order Date |  Ordered By |
--------------------------------------------------------
| 1         | blah blah     |  1/1/2009   |  Jane Doe   |
| 2         | blah blah     |  1/1/2009   |  Jane Doe   |
| 3         | blah blah     |  1/1/2009   |  Jane Doe   |

.

Don’t use a table for something like this:

"Hello, Jane Doe.  

Your order (#2), which was received on 1/1/2009, is being processed.  Sorry for the delay.

                                                    - Your friends at ABC Store"