"Using" vs "by using"
You can do whatever you are thinking of using a nested table for using CSS and clean markup.
— From "Programming the Mobile Web" by Maximiliano Firtman.
I do understand the general sense of the sentence, which is: you should use CSS and clean markup. But it appears to me that there is a typo in this sentence and it has to be:
You can do whatever you are thinking of by using CSS and clean markup for using a nested table.
Is my assumption correct? If not, can someone construe the meaning of the sentence?
You need to make a mental pause after the for. The sentence means:
- Don't use a nested table for whatever it is you want to do; use CSS and clean markup instead.
The basic sentence structure is "You can do X using Y", where X is "whatever you are thinking of using a nested table for" and Y is "CSS and clean markup"
I would assume the author inserted a silent comma in their head after the "for" and forgot to write it:
You can do whatever you are thinking of using a nested table for, using CSS and clean markup.
Which still doesn't scan nicely to me. I would personally write it as
"You can use CSS and clean markup to achieve anything you can do with a nested table"