Okay, I voted for layout with CSS, not tables (Big surprise there, right?!). Why? Because I like to build HTML and XHTML that conforms to the proper standards. These standards tell us that tables are to be used for tabular data, not for layout purposes. CSS is for the layout.
But, I do see where the frustration comes from for people that have always used tables to structure their page layout. WHen you set up the table, you know that content
A will always be on the left side, with content
B and
C next to it, one atop the other. You know that because of the cellpadding and cellspacing the graphic in one cell will align perfectly with the graphic in the cell below it, etc.
You tried to set up the page using CSS, and it worked in IE the first time, but not in anything else. Or it didn't work in IE at all. You couldn't get one <div> to line up the way you wanted. It was always too far one direction or another.
Yes, it's frustrating. I find it frustrating because I can't rely on the browser programmers to get their product to properly conform to current CSS and HTML/XHTML specifications, even though my code
does.
ALL browsers have problems with display of certain CSS items. But they are getting better. As more site developers are conforming to the standards, there is more of an incentive for browser programmers to fully support those standards.
It is kind of a chicken and egg problem though. Why put some type of code in your pages when IE doesn't even see it, and IE counts for 95 percent of the visits to your site? Shouldn't you wait until IE supports it? Since IE advancements (other than security patches) have stopped for the time being, it may be a long wait.
CSS may seem like the hard way to do things. If you haven't used CSS very much, of course it's not easy. Neither was HTML when you first started. As for WYSIWYG editors, I'm not the one to ask. I don't use any of them. I don't know how well they support using CSS for layout (though I hear Dreamweaver is very good).