This test attempts to determines if your page is using tables for layout purposes. Tables should be used to present tabular data, rather than to control the layout of a page. The problems associated with using tables for layout are well documented. In particular, they generally require more markup and take longer to render than acheiving the same with CSS. In addition, most devices cannot display nested tables correctly either. (Ready.mobi also checks for nested tables)
Checking if tables are used for layout
To pass this test your page should follow the following guidelines:
- Each table element should contain more than one tr element
- There should be at least one tr element that contains at least two td elements
- No nested td element should contain ONLY an image or object whose dimensions are 2×2 or less.
Reference
This test is based on a W3C mobileOK best practice. See http://www.w3.org/TR/mobile-bp/#TABLES_LAYOUT for more details.
See also the Nested tables and the Tables tests.