Conceptually, styles and positioning are two different animals. We need a tripartite model of 1) content, 2) styles, and 3) layout/positioning. Unfortunately neither tables nor CSS handle positioning well in all cases, hence the perpetual argument.

Maybe I'm just ignorant, but I've found it necessary to use CSS, tables, & JavaScript (yes, all three) to produce acceptable dynamic layouts for web-based apps. This is unfortunate.