Divs in place of table not lining up - css

Question

Trying to use divs rather than a table and the columns won't line up even though they all have the width set the same in the CSS. Here it is
<div class="title_container">
<div class="duty_date">
Date
</div>
<div class="duty_name">
Duty Name
</div>
<div class="duty_start">
Start Time
</div>
<div class="duty_end">
End Time
</div>
<div class="duty_location">
Duty Location
</div>
<div class="duty_manager">
Duty Manager
</div>
<div class="duty_members">
Required Members
</div>
<div class="duty_spaces">
Spaces
</div>
<div class="duty_notes">
Notes
</div>
</div>
and the css:
.duty_date, .duty_name, .duty_start, .duty_end, .duty_location, .duty_members,
.duty_manager, .duty_spaces, .duty_notes {
text-align: center;
border-right-style:solid;
border-right-width: 1px;
display: table-cell;
vertical-align: middle;
height:50px;
}
.duty_date, .duty_spaces {max-width:70px; width:70px;}
.duty_name, .duty_location {max-width: 150px; width:150px;}
.duty_start, .duty_end {max-width:90px; width:90px;}
.duty_manager, .duty_members {max-width:80px; width:80px;}
.duty_notes {max-width:180px; width:180px;}
Should I just use a table?

Answer 1

Should I just use a table?
Yes! That's tabular data, so you should just use a table.
It's a common fallacy to think "tables must never be used". Trying to emulate a table with divs is just as bad as using tables for layout.

Answer 2

In this case I think using a table would be perfectly acceptable. When using a table for actual design elements in a page, the <div> tags are a better option, but for displaying straightforward information like in this example, go ahead and use a table.

Answer 3

IMO yes - definitely a table and save yourself the pain!

Answer 4

From a semantic point of view using tables is the right choice for "tabular data", this will also enable you to use more structured tags like <th>. Please have a look at the specs http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-html401-19991224/struct/tables.html.

Answer 5

In my firefox browser, it looks OK. You must have a different browser. But I would suggest you use table because that's exactly what html table is for, unless you have a strong reason not to.

Answer 6

If you wanted to use <div>, use:
.duty_date, .duty_name, .duty_start, .duty_end, .duty_location, .duty_members,
.duty_manager, .duty_spaces, .duty_notes
{
text-align: center;
border-right-style: solid;
border-right-width: 1px;
display: block;
height: 50px;
line-height: 50px;
float: left;
}
This is untested :)
Setting line-height equal to the height of an element will give you text that is centered vertically. You might have to add a clearing element after each row. So it would be like:
<div>Row1Cell1</div>
<div>Row1Cell2</div>
etc...
<div class="clear"></div>
<div>Row2Cell1</div>
etc...
With
.clear
{
clear: both;
}