hm, I should really have learned by now to dou ... triple-check sources before I quote them ... it was
mike who had a different solution to offer, not Joost, even if I'm sure Joost knows it too ...

Sorry for any confusion.
Anyway, what mike likes to point out whenever we drag out the single file javascript solution is that you can use this thing instead, much shorter and works the same way.
<a href="http://www.some-site.com" onclick="target='_blank';">
The script I prefer to use is a bit longer but storing it in an external file helps separating content and non-content (styles, scripts, whathaveyou), which is something I always strive for. But that's me.
An explanation of the script and how it works is
here.
As for tables not being cool -- they are cool when used for tabular data. This has more to do with the semantic web (e.g. using html items for their intended purpose) (like
that will ever truly happen) than CSS. Though that is a complete aside, hardly worth the time it took to read it...

Ah, clients. What will they think of next, I wonder...