Formatting Tables to not look like tables / JS Sorting without tables?

Question

I'm designing an interface to display sets of data. I'm interested in organizing the information in a customized format using DIVs and SPANs to identify where specific data will be (not in the typical row-by-row format tables provide) but still having the flexibility of sorting and organizing the data that most JS libraries provide for tables. Is there a way to get the best of both worlds without rolling my own solution?

I want to sort the data on the fly using JS. I don't want to do crazy sorting... tasks like "group by type", Alphabetize, Sort Date, Ascending/Descending, etc. I know I could presort and display on the backend but I want to reduce server load and wish to keep unnecessary computations off the server. If there's a way to sort and organize on the client side, that would be best. My preference is to work with PHP on the backend and using the jQuery lib on the frontend. I'm also using mySQL if that helps.

Thanks in advance. Mike

Answer 1

It seems like you want the TinySort plugin.

TinySort will sort any nodetype by it’s text- or attribute value, or by that of one of it’s children.

Here's the documentation.