I don't know what this has to do with Perl, but as a web developer, this is an issue that I've wrestled with a lot lately. Like many pursuits, it boils down to trying to be a purist (CSS) and getting the job done. I've created 3-column tabbed data using only CSS, but I can do it in tables in a 10th the time with about 25% of the coding. But tables for layout is passé, tedious, and a pain to maintain—especially if you are slicing images. If CSS is your thing, highly recommend Eric Meyer's list-serve. Many of the folks that post there are "monkish" in their expertise.

Update: Just read this on aforementioned list, "No, it isn't. While you could create something that looked like a table, it wouldn't describe the relationships between the bits of data. CSS isn't about stopping using tables, it about stopping abusing them."