Only want to give you a sneak peek of the new design I’m working on for nlapse.com

As my last article makes some waves out there, just read some of the comments here, here and here. I want to state that I am not against using tables on web pages, just against using the elements in a way they are not mean to. Also encouraging to the web entrepreneurs (the intended audience for this site) to use best practices on their projects. Why? Cause on the long way the good practices pay: when you have to add features, correct some bugs, scale the app, etcetera, etcetera… etcetera.

This list of website represent successful websites that are using good practices right now, and are doing something to make the web a better place.

The list

1. Yahoo.com – Clean and a perfect Grid Design example
2. Blogger.com – None and very complex design If you ask me
3. Microsoft.com – None, more complicated design
4. Skyrock.com – I don´t even know this website, but they are doing great
5. Wretch.cc – I don´t know what they say but they use not tables, very complex design
6. Youporn.com – Well, they are about porn but taking care of web standards
7. UOL.com.br – What you say about complex layouts again?
8. Dailymotion.com – Eat that! YouTube
9. Allegro.pl – 0 tables involved
10. 163.com – This one too
11. AOL.com – One of the once-I-was, make the switch
12. WordPress.com – Guess what!, None as expected
13. WP.pl – Hey Poland, what are you eating these days?
14. Netlog.com – As a blog platform… was expected
15. Terra.com.br – Go Brazil Go!
16. Passport.net – He he, I see what you are doing here Microsoft!
17. Apple.com – What do you expect!?
18. Xanga.com – One more here
19. Globo.com – Brazil has now 3
20. Adobe.com – Otherwise I am going to uninstall the CS Suite
21. 6.cn – What a name!, no tables
22. Mozilla.com – Ja!
23. Digg.com – Dare you!
24. Tudou.com – Asia, once more
25. One.lt – One, one… one more to count
26. iG.com.br – Brazil, there must be some anti table/pro CSS law down there?
27. Download.com – Okay CNet, stay that way.
28. 56.com – Numbers in the name but not tables in the game
29. Youku.com – One more YouTube clone without the tables, WTF?
30. Divx.com – Finally 30!

Divx.com is the site number 136 by Alexa Rankings (today), so about the 22% of the most popular websites are NOT using tables as the main structure. They have from simple to very complex designs and layouts, and all have the same problem like every web developer out there, cross browser issues, but still there are trying.

In the other hand

What are doing these ones: Google.pl, Amazon.com, IMDB.com, Seznam.cz, photobucket.com, Megarotic.com, Imageshack.us, Google.com.mx, Yandex.ru, onet.pl, go.com, BBC.co.uk, imagevenue.com, sohu.com, craigslist.org, megavideo.com, free.fr, Google.co.in, fc2.com, livejournal.com (just one in the Log In/Register Box), deviantart.com, Google.cn, Google.co.jp, taobao.com, Google.com.ar, rambler.ru, Google.ca, Google.co.vn, Mininova.org (offline at the moment of the photo), adultfriendfinder.com, Google.com.pe, ebay.de, metroflog.com, veoh.com, Google.co.ve, Google.com.tr, Geocities.com, Google.com.sa, Google.it, googlesyndication.com, vnexpress.net, Google.com.eg, Google.co.th, fotka.pl, vkontakte.ru, sendspace.com, ebay.co.uk, mixi.jp, badoo.com, badongo.com, cnn.com, bebo.com, tom.com, discuss.com.hk, mediafire.com, yourfilehost.com, maktoob.com, kooora.com, multiply.com, iwiw.hu, Google.sk, rakuten.co.jp, Google.ae, gamespot.com, perfspot.com (yeah, sure), 4shared.com, rediff.com, depositfiles.com, about.com (for sure), Google.com.ph, usercash.com, Google.com.au, Google.ro, dantri.com.vn, centrum.cz, zshare.net, invisionfree.com (just one).

Who cares?

Is true, I know, the average Joe and Jane out there, don´t even know that they can see the source code of a website if they want to. Also, the big chairs several floors over your head, in your company, give a shit about it! The standards and good practices not lead to more revenue… yet.

Finally

It´s up to you what tools or practices you use in your work. I give you that, but… think about blind people and accessibility for just say one example, just for a moment, think it. What will heard a blind people when enter in your page? And answer you can answer yourself: “A nonsense speech inside a tags soup”. I am sure that´s not what you want. Do you?

Keep flowing.

PS: I don´t really care about my grammar errors here, at the end of the day, you understand me, Don´t you? When people have nothing to say they… suddenly… find some spelling or grammar details, and open their big mouth!

As we move in a world of XHTML, CSS, AJAX, Microformats, Semantic Web, etc. You may think that tables are only used to display… well… tabular data, no you are wrong! Take a look at this list of top sites from Alexa and see who are still in the middle age of web design. Here I am looking only at the home page of every site, may be worst when you click your way inside the site.

Tables are bad? Since when?

Well I am not going to tell the “The History of Tobacco”, you can read some over here. But I want to bring a few things for you: light, understandable, accessible and quasi-more SEO friendly code.

The list

1. Yahoo.com – Clean
2. Google.com – Tables inside
3. YouTube.com – You don´t believe how many they have
4. Live.com – Only one… Hmm… not bad at all
5. MSN.com – Only one… Amazing!
6. MySpace.com – A place for tables… and friends?
7. FaceBook.com – Here hang out the tables too.
8. Wikipedia.com – Tables, tables, tablepedia over here
9. Hi5.com – Only two
10. Orkut.com – OK, you too
11. RapidShare.com – One
12. Blogger.com – None, Zero, Niente, No tables around
13. MegaUpload.com – What you think?, yes you are right, there are countless tables inside
14. Baidu.com – Two on the home page, one table every 20 visible characters
15. Friendster.com – Not as much as you think
16. Yahoo.jp – Okay here we come again, back to 1995, Y! on the basics
17. Microsoft.com – None, can you believed?
18. QQ.com – table is their second CSS declaration, after body of course
19. Fotolog.com – Yes this one too
20. Ebay.com – Everybody knows
21. Google.fr – Tableu à´la carte.
22. Mail.ru – Yes in the old Russia, the websites layout the tables
23. Google.com.br – Ou Brasil tableleirou (here too)
24. Skyrock.com – None, Nicht, Null, 0 tables here
25. Sina.com.cn – Hele ale table too
26. Google.de – Of course, they have too
27. Google.cl – * (for now on I will write only an “*” when Google comes)
28. Google.co.uk – *
29. Google.es – *
30. Flickr.com – You don´t noticed but they are, they are

Finally

From the 30 more popular sites on the world and only 4 are using tableless layouts. Who cares anyway, the users? Nah! XHT hu ha hu who? a user have just said near you.

Stop hunting those IE CSS tricks and bring back your Frontpage 98 my friend designer, we are still in web 0.8889… not really but… think about it.

Keep flowing.

Update: And now… Top 30 popular websites are NOT using tables as main design structure. What is the real problem out there?