CSS vs Tables - What it can mean to the success of your website.

After 12 months of research and testing we are pleased to announce that all new website we develop are now being done using a technique called 'CSS Layout'.

For many, many years, websites have been developed in a certain way using a technique called 'tables' to lay the design of websites out. A few years ago, Tableless CSS started becoming used more and more as a new way to code the layout of websites. Only in recent times have all the browsers (especially Internet Explorer 7.0) been able to support CSS to an extent that makes it a viable technique for wide spread use properly.

Some of the advantages of having your website developed with CSS layout instead of Tables are:

  • Compatibility across most browsers, ensuring your website looks exactly the same (or very close) in Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari and many other browsers. 
  • Faster load times for websites. Using CSS reduces the lines of code in the 'html' of your website, making sites load noticeably quicker that if they are coded in tables.
  • Search engines love CSS! By utilising the technique of coding a website using CSS layout instead of Tables, it allows for greater search engine optimisation and more of your content to be found by the major search engines.

Earlier this year, we developed a new website for Mantis Technologies and built the whole site from the ground up using Tableless CSS. Although it is more more involved that the traditional Table based design, we found that within a week of deploying the new site, we had a traffic boost of roughly 20% due to the enhanced search optimisation available through CSS.

At the end of the day, designing websites using tableless CSS has many benefits that help your site become faster, more accessible and attract more traffic.

If you have an older website developed using the tables method and are interested in getting it re-designed using CSS then please feel free to contact us for an obligation free quote.