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Div Layout vs. Table Layout in HTML
In HTML, a layout defines the basic structure and appearance of a website. HTML layout is a blueprint that shows us how the HTML elements are arranged in a webpage. It provides you the functionality of creating webpages using simple HTML tags.
DIV Layout
Div layout is the most common layout in HTML and is based on <div> elements. <div> element in HTML is used to define section of document. <div> tag is a container tag i.e. it has both opening and ending tag.
We can define multiple <div> elements inside a HTML document and each of them can be used to show different set of information. Inside <div> element we can use more than one HTML elements like paragpraph(<p>), heading(<h2>), span(<span>) etc. We can group all the HTML elements of the <div> tag and can apply CSS to them to make them more understandable and presentable.
Example
Following is the example for div layout
<html>
<head>
<style>
h2,p {
border: 2px;
background-color: lightblue;
text-align: center;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<div>
<h2>Introduction to Div tag</h2>
<p>Div tag is the most commonly used tag for creating layout in HTML.</p>
</div>
</body>
</html>
Table Layout
Table layout is one of the least suggested layout in HTML because of its complexity. As it name suggests it is based on <table> element. <table> element provides the functionality of arranging data in the form of rows and columns.
The <table> tag is also a container tag i.e. it has both opening and ending tag. Inside <table> element we can use more than one HTML element but there are three meta tags which is necessary to use in order to arrange data into the table. First one is <tr> tag which means table row and it adds the new row in table.
Second one is <th> tag which stands for table heading and it stores the heading of the table of the table. And the last one is <td> i.e. table data that stores the information or data of the table.
Example
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<style>
table, th, td {
border:1px solid black;
}
</style>
<body>
<table>
<tr>
<th>This contains heading of the Table</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>This tag contains the data to be shown by the table.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<p> we can use html elements inside table tag and we can also have multiple table row and table data in a table.</p>
</tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>
DIV VS Table Layout
Following are the differences between DIV and table layout –
Page Size − In Div layout, we have
tag which contains only HTML elements and we can define their styling in a single CSS file whereas in the case of table layout we have th, td, tr and multiple element and each element will have its separate styling which will increase the overall size of the page.Page Rendering − Page rendering is the time taken by the browser to display the content of the webpage. In case of div layout the browser doesn’t look for the ending tag while in case of table layout browser doesn’t display content of the page, until it reaches the end of the
. Hence page rendering is slow in table layout as compared to div layout. Maintenance − Div layout provides us the functionality of modifying the designs of the current webpage in a easy way by simply making changes in the CSS whereas in table layout modification in current design is difficult as we have to make change in code.
Consistency − In div layout we don’t have to follow any pattern of HTML elements in order to get the consistency in webpage but in table layout if we miss any element like table row, table heading, table data then the entire structure of the content will be changed and it will lose its consistency.
Suggestion − Webpage built using div layout is highly suggested as the data inside the div tag is separated in a proper manner which makes the spider of the webpage act in a quick manner whereas in table layout extra HTML elements increases the rendering time of the page.
Flexibility − Flexibility is one of the important factor through which we measure the performance of our website. It tells us about whether our website is able to display the same content in the same manner in different devices.
In case of table layout we have to provide a specific width to our table which in result makes it unflexible and you can only see the content with the screen size matching the width of the table. But flexibility is not the issue when it comes to div layout as it can be solved using CSS properties which will make it adjustable to different screen sizes.
Conclusion
In conclusion, both the div and table layout have their own advantages and disadvantages. The div-based layout is more flexible than the table-based one, but it requires more coding skills to create and maintain. On the other hand, tables are easier to learn for beginners and can be used for complex layouts that would otherwise require a lot of extra code with divs. Ultimately, it depends on what you're trying to accomplish with your website design as to which approach is better suited for your needs.
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