I have a database-driven website that lists books very similar to O'reilly's Safari bookshelf. The way I want to display all my database data is very similar to the way they do it on the Safari website at:

http://safari.oreilly.com/?x=1&mode=books&sortKey=title&sortOrder=asc&view=section&xmlid=&k=20&g=&srchText=BOOK&code=&h=0&m=0&l=&j=&searchview=books&catid=&s=1&b=1&f=1&t=1&c=1&u=1&r=&o=1&n=1&d=1&p=1&a=0&title=

My question is this:
Should I go the extra mile to code this entire dynamic listing of books using CSS or should I maintain my coding using tables? Do you think it would be a mess trying to emulate this in tableless CSS? I certainly do not mind taking the extra time to do so, but I also don't want to use the wrong tool (code) for the job. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

I think you can make a strong argument that this is tabular data, that the spacial relationship of the information must be kept intact in order for it to be received in its proper context. I'd say tables are the right choice for this content. We're talking about the content only, of course, not the layout itself!

I agree with the_pm, this is tabular data and therefore should be presented as such.

Do a google search for "CSS Table Gallery" and the first result returns lot's of good implementations of CSS tables. I'd post the URL but don't have a high enough post count yet.

CSS all the way. Although, it looks like tables would do just fine, too. I would try the layout part with CSS, and tables for the data.

I'm a little confused... when you say "layout part with CSS" and "tables for the data", isn't the layout part determined by the tables if tables are used?

I'm a little confused... when you say "layout part with CSS" and "tables for the data", isn't the layout part determined by the tables if tables are used?No. If you're talking about the layout, you're talking about the presentation of the page as a whole. When you're talking about tables for data, you're talking about using them t present the portion of the content area that requires a spreadsheet-like treatment.

Yes, thank you the_pm

well pure css based layout will take much time than with tables

and you know there are quite differences in browser while you are using css..