When to use tables

I'm making a web page that is like a photography photo gallery and I'm wondering whats the best way to display images in a 4x5 manner. Would this be a place I could use tables, or is there a better way?

Hi Spoof,


You could use CSS, Floats, Html or even a Flash album or Lightroom from Adobe.

You could also use a Dreamweaver templete for images.

HTH

I dropped some nice gallery code on this thread: http://www.ozzu.com/post498882.html?sid=3fd9d8a5668499280cfb70524e5f12f6&sid=02ba830b3bc66c005f230cdc58727d16#p498882

If you mess around with the styling you can make it look very, very nice.

I see nothing wrong with using a table for what you described.

I agree with spork. It actually makes a lot of sense to use tables for your purpose.

I am going to third that ...

Id use tables, makes sense, you are displaying tabular data

Isn't a gallery just a list of images? That being the case I'd go for a list.

In the end, it matters not. Both can do the job and in the final analysis user will not care or even comprehend the difference. However, if you don your semamtic-shmematic cap for a brief moment then it becomes apparent that the list is the "correct" option.

I disagree. He's looking to display a grid of data, not a single-dimensional list. Tables were intended for exactly that purpose.

I think you are stretching the definitions of "data" and "tabular data" just a little bit. To my mind, a gallery of thumbnails is not data and is definately not tabular data. A grid of data speaks to me of spreadsheet-type stuff - an ideal, and correct, use of tables.

Lists don't have to be one-dimensional. A gallery of images with links and captions (although layed out in a grid) is not grid-like data but is grid-like only by its styling convention. A small gallery may consist of a single row of 6 images for example, a larger one of many such rows- they just wrap creating a grid-like appearance (which doesn't imply it should be dropped into a table).

I'm not stretching any definitions here. People shy away from tables because they get a bad rap in light of fact that people incorrectly use them to lay out entire pages. This doesn't mean they should be confined to use in only the absolute most datagrid-like situations.

For what Spoof is doing, either would work. I completely agree with where you're coming from. It's just that a lot of people like to shy away and hide in the corner at the first mention of the word "tables", and I'm trying to prevent that.

Well I ended up using a list because it will allow the gallery to be dynamic in nature, so if there is a row of small images, instead of only having 4 on that row it will fill it to the end.

Makes sense.

Something like this?

Divs and CSS:

http://missbgraphics.com/gallery/index2.htm

And lIghtbox2 which is close cousin to Adobe Lightroom..and free.