How would YOU do this: Tables or CSS?

Css Problem Overview

Part I

This layout can be done quite simply with 2 HTML tables, one nested inside the other, or even with a single table.

It can also be done with CSS, though it might involve a little more thinking.

This may not be a real world layout, but I have seen pages that are similar. Consider this a riddle; an exercise to buff up your CSS skills.

To make things a little more interesting, I have framed the question in a little 2 part web page called The Challenge. We will examine the code and the question: Layout with tables or CSS?, side-by-side, blow-by-blow, as our two opponents battle it out for code supremacy.

Part I lays out how The Challenge came to be. I hope you enjoy.

Part II is The Decision. You might be surprised.

Part II

I was amazed at how quickly really good answers appeared mere minutes after I posted. It was a humbling experience. I have no desire to compete in time trials with you.

BUT, all that being said, upon close examination of the solutions offered, I came to realize that none of the CSS solutions (including my own at the time) worked as well as either of the table solutions offered. The Challenge was all about CSS being better than tables for any layout solution.

So I added 3 new rules (remember, one of the rules is that the rules can be changed). This annoyed some people. So then I added some colorful explanations about why the rules were changed. I think this annoyed them even more.

Our garden is to have a fence around it; something to set it apart from whatever dreary surroundings it may find itself in; and not too expensive, but easy to keep clean. So I want a 1 pixel black border around the garden

Inhabitants of each garden plot (the characters) must be either black or white, depending on which shows them the best in their garden. Also they are all of cursive descent. There are no italics amoung them. ;-)

The garden is relocatable, that is, I can have this garden, anywhere on the page (no absolute positioning).

This is what the final output is to look like (background color optional):

_{(source: sontag.ca)}

My apologies for the capricious and last minute rule changes. I had it wrong. The inhabitants of each garden plot are artisans, hand crafted specialists. They are descendants of the cursive family, and owe their sense of style to the italics.

The garden has to be relocatable because both kinds of gardens (table and CSS) need to coexist on the same page. I may be wrong to say that position:absolute rules are not allowed. If you can get them to work in this context, then more power to you. They will certainly be accepted.

I asked for a fence around the plot because each garden type is going to be planted in a countryside with an orange background very similar to the color of the some of the flowers we grow.

I live in Holland now, and the Tulip season is fast approaching. If you fly over Holland in the next few weeks, and it's a clear day (kind of rare here) the landscape below you will look rather similar to this silly exercise.

I'm not crazy about orange but I do like and admire the Dutch, so that is why we have an orange background, a tribute to my host country. :-)

Part III

I have posted Ted's table answer from The Challenge below along with this image

_{(source: sontag.ca)}

because the occupants can be easily added to the garden plots without touching the CSS rules - everything is automatically centered.

Can you do this with CSS? Can you chop down the mightiest tree in the forest with... a herring?

Update: Charlie's answer is here.

Css Solutions

Solution 1 - Css

Update: Final edit. Switched to STRICT DTD, removed italic to match the image in the question, and reverted back to full colour names for ids to show intent as per OPs comment on question, and sorted the main column of id names in the css into the order they appear in the html.

I also opted not to reused the outer div as the white 7 square (it didn't have it's own div in previous edits), as it wouldn't have been practical if you wanted to use the layout, and felt a little like cheating (although from a brevity/pixel perfect standpoint I liked the cheekiness of it).

View here: http://jsbin.com/efidi
Edit here: http://jsbin.com/efidi/edit
Validates as XHTML strict

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
  "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
<head><title>The Challenge</title>
<style type="text/css">
div     { text-align: center; width:175px; height:175px; line-height: 35px;}
div div {         float:left; width: 35px; height: 35px;}
#orange, #maroon,
#blue  , #green  {float:right;}

#orange, #silver {background-color:silver;  width:140px;}
#navy  , #maroon {background-color:maroon; height:140px; line-height:140px;}
         #navy   {background-color:navy  ;}
#green , #red    {background-color:red   ;  width: 70px;}
#yellow, #blue   {background-color:blue  ; height: 70px; line-height: 70px;}
         #yellow {background-color:yellow;}
         #white  {background-color:white ;}
         #green  {background-color:green ;}
         #orange {background-color:orange;}
</style> 
</head> 
<body> 
  <div> 
    <div id="silver">1</div> 
    <div id="maroon">2</div> 
    <div id="navy"  >3</div> 
    <div id="red"   >4</div> 
    <div id="blue"  >5</div> 
    <div id="yellow">6</div> 
    <div id="white" >7</div>
    <div id="green" >8</div> 
    <div id="orange">9</div> 
  </div>
</body></html>

Aside: I would perhaps put a little more whitespace in if I could, but this is at the limit before the code blocks here on SO starts getting scrollbars and I opted to have it all appear on screen.

Note: I borrowed the line-height fix from Tyson (who was first to get a correctly rendering answer).

Solution 2 - Css

Here are three solutions.

The markup:

<div id="outer">
	<div id="a1">1</div>
	<div id="a2">2</div>
	<div id="a3">3</div>
	<div id="a4">4</div>
	<div id="a5">5</div>
	<div id="a6">6</div>
	<div id="a7">7</div>
	<div id="a8">8</div>
	<div id="a9">9</div>
</div>

The basic stylesheet (dimensions and color):

#outer {
	width: 20em;
	height: 20em;
}
#a1 {
	background-color: #C0C0C0;
	width: 80%;
	height: 20%;
}
#a2 {
	background-color: #800000;
	width: 20%;
	height: 80%;
}
#a3 {
	background-color: #000080;
	width: 20%;
	height: 80%;
}
#a4 {
	background-color: #FF0000;
	width: 40%;
	height: 20%;
}
#a5 {
	background-color: #0000FF;
	width: 20%;
	height: 40%;
}
#a6 {
	background-color: #FFFF00;
	width: 20%;
	height: 40%;
}
#a7 {
	background-color: #FFFFFF;
	width: 20%;
	height: 20%;
}
#a8 {
	background-color: #008000;
	width: 40%;
	height: 20%;
}
#a9 {
	background-color: #FFA500;
	height: 20%;
	width: 80%;
}

And now the positioning:

Using float:

  #a1 {
  	float: left;
  }
  #a2 {
  	float: right;
  }
  #a3 {
  	float: left;
  }
  #a4 {
  	float: left;
  }
  #a5 {
  	float: right;
  }
  #a6 {
  	float: left;
  }
  #a7 {
  	float: left;
  }
  #a8 {
  	float: right;
  }
  #a9 {
  	float: right;
  }

Using position:

  #outer {
  	position: relative;
  }
  #outer div {
  	position: absolute;
  }
  #a1 {
  	top: 0;
  	left: 0;
  }
  #a2 {
  	top: 0;
  	right: 0;
  }
  #a3 {
  	top: 20%;
  	left: 0;
  }
  #a4 {
  	top: 20%;
  	left: 20%;
  }
  #a5 {
  	top: 20%;
  	right: 20%;
  }
  #a6 {
  	top: 40%;
  	left: 20%;
  }
  #a7 {
  	top: 40%;
  	left: 40%;
  }
  #a8 {
  	bottom: 20%;
  	right: 20%;
  }
  #a9 {
  	bottom: 0;
  	right: 0;
  }

Using margin:

  #a1 {
  }
  #a2 {
  	margin: -20% -80% 0 80%;
  }
  #a3 {
  	margin: -60% 0 0 0;
  }
  #a4 {
  	margin: -80% -20% 0 20%;
  }
  #a5 {
  	margin: -20% -60% 0 60%;
  }
  #a6 {
  	margin: -20% -20% 0 20%;
  }
  #a7 {
  	margin: -40% -40% 0 40%;
  }
  #a8 {
  	margin: 0 -40% 0 40%;
  }
  #a9 {
  	margin: 0 -20% 0 20%;
  }

Solution 3 - Css

Here you go - less lines than any misuse of table tags can provide:

<img
    src="http://sontag.ca/TheChallenge/tiles.gif"
    alt="nine assorted coloured rectangles"
/>

Solution 4 - Css

This matches your table example exactly, including the vertically and horizontally centered text (which no one else has done so far).

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
	"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
<head>
	<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/>

	<title>Boxy Boxes in a Box</title>

	<style type="text/css" media="screen">
		#container {position: relative; margin: 100px auto; height: 175px; width: 175px; font-style: italic; }

		.box {width: 35px; height: 35px; position: absolute; text-align: center; line-height: 35px;}
	
		#box_1 {top: 0; left: 0; width: 140px; background-color: silver;}
		#box_2 {top: 0; right: 0; height: 140px; background-color: maroon; line-height: 140px;}
		#box_3 {top: 35px; left: 0; height: 140px; background-color: navy; line-height: 140px;}
		#box_4 {top: 35px; left: 35px; width: 70px; background-color: red;}
		#box_5 {top: 35px; right: 35px; height: 70px; background-color: blue; line-height: 70px;}
		#box_6 {top: 70px; left: 35px; height: 70px; background-color: yellow; line-height: 70px;}
		#box_7 {top: 70px; left: 70px; background-color: white;}
		#box_8 {bottom: 35px; right: 35px; width: 70px; background-color: green;}
		#box_9 {bottom: 0; right: 0; width: 140px; background-color: orange;}
	</style>
</head>

<body>
	<div id="container">
		<div id="box_1" class="box">1</div>
		<div id="box_2" class="box">2</div>
		<div id="box_3" class="box">3</div>
		<div id="box_4" class="box">4</div>
		<div id="box_5" class="box">5</div>
		<div id="box_6" class="box">6</div>
		<div id="box_7" class="box">7</div>
		<div id="box_8" class="box">8</div>
		<div id="box_9" class="box">9</div>
	</div>
</body>
</html>

Solution 5 - Css

As long as the widths and heights are constant, one can always use absolute positioning to get the same effect. This should be obvious enough, so that I don't have to type it out (it's late here and I'm lazy :P)

Solution 6 - Css

I took a slightly different approach than the "id everything" solutions I've seen so far. This comes in less than 100 chars more than the table based solution.

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
 "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
<head>
<title>The Challenge</title>
<style type="text/css">
div {
	position:absolute;
	width:35px;
	height:35px;
	text-align:center;
	line-height:35px
}

.spiral { width:175px; height:175px }

.t { top:0 }
.l { left:0 }
.r { right:0 }
.b { bottom:0 }
.w { width:140px }
.h { height:140px; line-height:140px }
.c {
	top:35px;
	left:35px;
	width:105px;
	height:105px
}

.c .w { width:70px }
.c .h { height:70px; line-height: 70px }
.c .c { width:35px; height: 35px }
</style>
</head>
<body>
<div class="spiral">
	<div class="t l w" style="background-color:silver">1</div>
	<div class="t r h" style="background-color:maroon">2</div>
	<div class="b l h" style="background-color:navy">3</div>
	<div class="c">
		<div class="t l w" style="background-color:red">4</div>
		<div class="t r h" style="background-color:blue">5</div>
		<div class="b l h" style="background-color:yellow">6</div>
		<div class="c">7</div>
		<div class="b r w" style="background-color:green">8</div>
	</div>
	<div class="b r w" style="background-color:orange">9</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>

Edit: Based on your modifications I'm posting a slightly more verbose but hopefully clearer solution that adds a black border, sets some text to white, and does not absolutely position the "garden".

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
 "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
<head>
<title>The Challenge</title>
<style type="text/css">
div {
    position:absolute;
    width:35px;
    height:35px;
    text-align:center;
    line-height:35px
}

div.spiral {
    position:relative;
    width:175px;
    height:175px;
    border: 1px solid #000
}

.top { top:0 }
.left { left:0 }
.right { right:0 }
.bottom { bottom:0 }
.wide { width:140px }
.tall { height:140px; line-height:140px }
.center {
    top:35px;
    left:35px;
    width:105px;
    height:105px
}

.center .wide { width:70px }
.center .tall { height:70px; line-height: 70px }
.center .center { width:35px; height: 35px }
</style>
</head>
<body>
<div class="spiral">
    <div class="top left wide" style="background-color:silver">1</div>
    <div class="top right tall" style="background-color:maroon">2</div>
    <div class="bottom left tall" style="background-color:navy;color:#fff">3</div>
    <div class="center">
        <div class="top left wide" style="background-color:red">4</div>
        <div class="top right tall" style="background-color:blue">5</div>
        <div class="bottom left tall" style="background-color:yellow">6</div>
        <div class="center">7</div>
        <div class="bottom right wide" style="background-color:green">8</div>
    </div>
    <div class="bottom right wide" style="background-color:orange">9</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>

Solution 7 - Css

Single table solution.

Now don't down-vote me.

I know this is not an answer to the original question.
I posted this answer because the OP requested it in a comment to the original question.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
    <head>
        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
        <meta http-equiv="Content-language" content="en" />
        <title>The Challenge</title>
    </head>
    <body>

        <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" summary="">
            <tr>
                <td colspan="4" height="35" align="center" bgcolor="silver"><i>1</i></td>
                <td rowspan="4" width="35" align="center" bgcolor="maroon"><i>2</i></td>
                <td rowspan="5" valign="bottom"><img src="http://sontag.ca/gif/grinch.gif" width="41" height="122" alt="Dr. Suess's Grinch"/></td>
            </tr><tr>
                <td rowspan="4" width="35" align="center" bgcolor="navy"><i>3</i></td>
                <td colspan="2" height="35" align="center" bgcolor="red"><i>4</i></td>
                <td rowspan="2" width="35" align="center" bgcolor="blue"><i>5</i></td>
            </tr><tr>
                <td rowspan="2" width="35" align="center" bgcolor="yellow"><i>6</i></td>
                <td width="35" height="35" align="center"><i>7</i></td>
            </tr><tr>
                <td colspan="2" height="35" align="center" bgcolor="green"><i>8</i></td>
            </tr><tr>
                <td colspan="4" height="35" align="center" bgcolor="orange"><i>9</i></td>
            </tr>
        </table>

    </body>
</html>

It is valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional and I've included Dr. Suess character :)

By stripping Dr. Suess character, the <?xml declaration, the meta-tags and the summary attribute you could cut it down to 929 characters and still be valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional.

Edit

As requested, XHTML 1.0 Strict

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
    <head>
        <title>The Challenge</title>
        <style type="text/css">
            BODY {background: orange}
            #garden {border: 1px solid black; color: black}
            #garden TD {
                font: italic 100% 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;
                height: 35px;
                padding: 0;
                text-align: center;
                width: 35px
            }
            #c1 {background: silver}
            #c2 {background: maroon; color: white}
            #c3 {background: navy;   color: white}
            #c4 {background: red}
            #c5 {background: blue;   color: white}
            #c6 {background: yellow}
            #c7 {background: white}
            #c8 {background: green;  color: white}
            #c9 {background: orange}
        </style>
    </head>
    <body>

        <table id="garden" cellspacing="0">
            <tr>
                <td id="c1" colspan="4">1</td>
                <td id="c2" rowspan="4">2</td>
            </tr><tr>
                <td id="c3" rowspan="4">3</td>
                <td id="c4" colspan="2">4</td>
                <td id="c5" rowspan="2">5</td>
            </tr><tr>
                <td id="c6" rowspan="2">6</td>
                <td id="c7">7</td>
            </tr><tr>
                <td id="c8" colspan="2">8</td>
            </tr><tr>
                <td id="c9" colspan="4">9</td>
            </tr>
        </table>

    </body>
</html>

970 non-whitespace characters, orange background, Dr. Suess's Grinch removed.

Solution 8 - Css

No one here has given a table solution yet, and The Challenge is all about comparing CSS layouts to Table based layouts in a controlled (and heavily biased) scenario.

So here is Ted's Table Layout solution and his challenge...

"With my table based solution, it is very easy to add new inhabitants to the garden plots by very simple additions to the HTML markup only! All inhabitants are automatically centered and spaced in a pleasing style. For example:"

_{(source: sontag.ca)}

_{(source: sontag.ca)}

"As far as I can tell, no CSS based solutions here can accomodate new inhabitants without extensive renovations to the CSS rules."

"Better bring lots of money boys, I'm feeling really hungry and thirsty now."

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
   "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<title>Terrible Ted's Table Layout</title>
<style type="text/css">

#master TD { text-align: center }
#master { 
  border: 1px solid black;
  font: italic 100%/200% 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; 
}
#silver { background-color:silver }
#maroon { background-color: maroon;  color:white }
#navy { background-color:navy;  color:white }
#red { background-color: red }
#blue { background-color:blue;  color:white }
#yellow { background-color: yellow }
#green { background-color:green;  color:white }
#orange { background-color:orange }
#white { background-color:white }

#silver, #red, #green, #orange, #white { height: 35px }
#maroon, #navy, #blue, #yellow, #white { width: 35px }

</style>
</head>
<body style="background-color:#ffb600">

<table id="master" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" 
  summary="layoutByTable"><tr>
    <td id="silver" colspan="2" > 1 </td> 
    <td id="maroon" rowspan="2" > 2 </td>
  </tr><tr>
  <td id="navy" rowspan="2" > 3 </td>
  <td>
    <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" 
      summary="inner"><tr>
        <td id="red" colspan="2" > 4 </td>
        <td id="blue" rowspan="2" > 5 </td>
      </tr><tr>
        <td id="yellow" rowspan="2" > 6 </td>
        <td id="white"> 7 </td>
      </tr><tr>
        <td id="green" colspan="2" > 8 </td>
      </tr>
    </table>
  </td>
</tr><tr>
 <td id="orange" colspan="2"> 9 </td>
</tr>
</table>

</body>
</html>

Solution 9 - Css

Brevity of markup....

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
<head>
<title>The Challenge</title>
<style type="text/css">
	.garden {
		position: relative;
		width: 175px;
		height: 175px;
		font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;
		border: 1px solid;
		color: #000;
		}
	.garden div {
		position: absolute;
		width: 35px;
		height: 35px;
		line-height: 35px;
		text-align: center;
		}
	.garden div:first-child {
		width: 140px;
		background: silver;
		}
	.garden div:first-child + div {
		right: 0;
		height: 140px;
		line-height: 140px;
		color: #fff;
		background: maroon;
		}
	.garden div:first-child + div + div {
		top: 35px;
		height: 140px;
		line-height: 140px;
		color: #fff;
		background: navy;
		}
	.garden div:first-child + div + div + div {
		top: 35px;
		left: 35px;
		width: 70px;
		background: red;
		}
	.garden div:first-child + div + div + div + div {
		top: 35px;
		right: 35px;
		height: 70px;
		line-height: 70px;
		background: blue;
		}
	.garden div:first-child + div + div + div + div + div {
		top: 70px;
		left: 35px;
		height: 70px;
		line-height: 70px;
		background: yellow;
		}
	.garden div:first-child + div + div + div + div + div + div {
		top: 70px;
		left: 70px;
		background: white;
		}
	.garden div:first-child + div + div + div + div + div + div + div {
		top: 105px;
		left: 70px;
		width: 70px;
		background: green;
		}
	.garden div:first-child + div + div + div + div + div + div + div + div{
		bottom: 0;
		right: 0;
		width: 140px;
		background: orange;
		}
		
	</style> 
</head> 
<body> 
<div class="garden"> 
<div>1</div> 
<div>2</div> 
<div>3</div> 
<div>4</div> 
<div>5</div> 
<div>6</div> 
<div>7</div>
<div>8</div> 
<div>9</div> 
</div>
</body>
</html>

link

Solution 10 - Css

_{(source: sontag.ca)}
I first did this exercise a little over 2 years ago when I was first learning HTML and CSS. My first solution was like the one you see here, except without the anonymous container DIVs. Then I got this idea for a web page that did a side by side comparison of CSS to a Table to prove CSS was better. So I worked on The Challenge page, published it, and then posted this question.

Sam Hasler posted an answer within minutes, it seems, that was really close. I could see he was on track for a better solution than what I had. All his divs were in order, and mine were not. Jacco posted a comment asking why I used two nested tables when one would do. He was right too, of course.

So I had two Homer Simpson "Doh!" moments right away. I read other questions and answers on tables vs. CSS. Someone mentioned that tables centered vertically. My answer did not center vertically either, but I thought it might be possible. The whole point, after all, is to do everything a table can do and better. I had painted myself into a corner by now, looking like a fool, so I had to find an answer.

Eventually (am embarrassed to say how long it was) I came up with the solution below. I was then able to fulfill my original concept of a side-by-side comparison web page.

Here is an explanation of how it all works and why you should use CSS

Charlie's answer...

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
 "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<title>Charlie's CSS layout</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" />
<style type="text/css">

#outer { 
  width:175px; height:175px; 
  text-align:center; 
  font: italic 100%/200% 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;  
  border: 1px solid black;
}
#inner { width: 105px }
#outer>DIV, #inner>DIV { float:left }
#outer>DIV>DIV, #inner>DIV>DIV 
{ display: table-cell;  vertical-align: middle }
#c2 { clear: right }
#c3, #c6 { clear: left }

#c1>DIV, #c4>DIV, #c7>DIV, #c8>DIV, #c9>DIV { height: 35px }
#c2>DIV, #c3>DIV, #c5>DIV, #c6>DIV, #c7>DIV { width:  35px }
#c2>DIV, #c3>DIV { height: 140px } 
#c1>DIV, #c9>DIV { width:  140px } 
#c5>DIV, #c6>DIV { height:  70px } 
#c4>DIV, #c8>DIV { width:   70px } 
#c2, #c6, #c7, #c8, #c9 { position:relative; top:-35px }
#c9 { left: 35px }

#c1 { background-color: silver }
#c2 { background-color: maroon; color: white }
#c3 { background-color: navy; color: white }
#c4 { background-color: red }
#c5 { background-color: blue; color: white }
#c6 { background-color: yellow }
#c7 { background-color: white }
#c8 { background-color: green; color: white }
#c9 { background-color: orange }

/* these rules are a HACK to center vertically in IE7 */
#outer>DIV>DIV, #inner>DIV>DIV { position:relative; }
#c1>DIV, #c4>DIV, #c7>DIV, #c8>DIV, #c9>DIV { top: 10% }
#c5>DIV { top: 0% } 
#c6>DIV { top: 30% }
#c2>DIV { top: 0% }
#c3>DIV { top: 15% }
 
</style>
</head>
<body>

<div id="outer">
  <div id="c1"><div> 1 </div></div>
  <div id="c3"><div>3<br/>3<br/>3</div></div>
  <div id="inner">
    <div id="c4"><div> 4 </div></div>
    <div id="c5"><div> 5<br/>5 </div></div>
    <div id="c6"><div> 6 </div></div>
    <div id="c7"><div> 7 </div></div>
    <div id="c8"><div> 8 </div></div>
  </div>
  <div id="c2"><div> 2<br/>2<br/>2<br/>2 </div></div>
  <div id="c9"><div> 9 9 9</div></div>
</div>

</body>
</html>

Solution 11 - Css

I think we've proved that there's more than one way to do this. The table tag and CSS are both viable options.

Rather than add another way to complete the challenge I'd just like to say that, whether it's easier or harder, simpler or more complex: tables in HTML should be used for displaying tabular data.

Tables are made for tabular data.
CSS is made for styling/presentation.

Solution 12 - Css

Here is an example that doesn't use absolute positioning, doesn't use table-cell, and is valid in IE6-8, FF, etc.

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
  <head>
    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" />

<title>Terrible Ted's Table Layout</title>
<style type="text/css">
#box{border:1px solid #000; width:175px; height:175px; color:navy; font-family:"Comic Sans MS"; font-size:13px; font-style:italic; text-align:center;}

div {float:left}

#c1, #c3, #c4, #c7, #c8, #c9{height:35px; line-height:35px}
#c2, #c3{height:140px;line-height:140px}
#c5, #c6{height:70px; line-height:70px}

#c1, #c9{width:140px}
#c2, #c3, #c5, #c6, #c7{width:35px}
#c4, #c8{width:70px}

#c6, #c7 {margin-top:-35px}
 
#c1{background-color:silver}
#c2{background-color:maroon; float:right}
#c3{background-color:navy}
#c4{background-color:red}
#c5{background-color:blue}
#c6{background-color:yellow}
#c7{background-color:white}
#c8{background-color:green}
#c9{background-color:orange}

</style>
</head>
<body>
<div id="box">
<div id="c1">1</div>
<div id="c2">2</div>
<div id="c3">3</div>
<div id="c4">4</div>
<div id="c5">5</div>
<div id="c6">6</div>
<div id="c7">7</div>
<div id="c8">8</div>
<div id="c9">9</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>

Content Type	Original Author	Original Content on Stackoverflow
Question	Diogenes	View Question on Stackoverflow
Solution 1 - Css	Sam Hasler	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 2 - Css	Gumbo	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 3 - Css	Peter Boughton	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 4 - Css	Tyson	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 5 - Css	Vilx-	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 6 - Css	Prestaul	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 7 - Css	Jacco	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 8 - Css	Diogenes	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 9 - Css	Andy Ford	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 10 - Css	Diogenes	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 11 - Css	Travis	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 12 - Css	pinxi	View Answer on Stackoverflow