Tables loading question

Hi all,

Regarding download wait on tables.

Dilemma is that we need one main enclosing table to fix the overall width 
and put percentages in the nested tables to control the page width.  My 
boss is adamant about download times, but i am arguing for a relatively 
fast compromise, but I need your input on how tables download.  I realize 
the browser must load the main table first.

Got 4  questions:

1) Is it less time to load a one row, one cell table than one with multiple 
rows and cells?
2) Would the next download after the big table,  be the first nested table 
at the top, that's within the one big cell? (then the next and the next etc.)
3) What exactly is the browser interpreting  -- the table tag structure or 
every single thing in the table?  Does that have a specific weight in itself?
4) and HOW do i test something like this?

My thinking was that a one-cell one rowed table would take less time than 
one with  multiple rows.

===========
Chris Hawkins
Web Architect / UI and Design
http://netprofitnow.com/chrishawkins/
650-620-9524 h
===========
The idea is not to make art, but to be in that wonderful state which makes 
art inevitable.   	-- Robert Henri

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