Please Use CSS

I haven't built a site using tables for layout in a long time, something like five years. In fact, I'm so allergic to tables sometimes I have remind myself when it's OK to use them (as in, for tabular data). The reason for bringing this up is because part of my new job involves building, modifying and updating HTML emails that generally use tables for layouts. It's been that long since I'd had to trawl through a table layout I'd forgotten how bad it was, it's like some sort of torture looking through td tag after td tag. Seriously people, if you build websites and you haven't switched to CSS, do so immediately and save yourself from going insane. Here's a few links to help convince you as to why you should switch, but I'm 100% behind the maintainability reason:

Throwing Tables Out the Window by Douglas Bowman

From Table Hacks to CSS Layout: A Web Designer’s Journey by Jeffrey Zeldman

The benefits of Web Standards to your visitors, your clients and you! by maxdesign

Tables Vs. CSS - A Fight to the Death by Sergio Villarreal

12 Lessons for Those Afraid of CSS and Standards by Ben Henick

CSS Talking Points: Selling Clients on Web Standards by Greg Kise

Now, if I can just get all the manufacturers of email clients and all the web-based mail services to update their HTML support to something from this century instead of 1995, or at the very least get everyone to swear off using Lotus Notes, I'll be well away.