Why use Column with Rows instead of Grid?

Question

In general, what are the advantages of using Grid versus a combination of Column and Row? Is Grid better in some situations but not others?

For example, is there any reason why one would do this:

Grid[{{"Some text I want above a formula:"},
      {Integrate[f[x], x]}}]

versus this:

Column[{Row[{"Some text I want above a formula:"}], 
        Row[{Integrate[f[x], x]}]}]

Answer 1

There are several differences in behaviour. One is that Row will be line-wrapped if it does not fit the notebook window:

Grid will not.

Also with Grid the alignment is global, so the $n^\textrm{th}$ elements in each row will always line up vertically with each other. This is not the case with several Rows in one Column.

table = Table[RandomInteger[13, 10], {5}]

Grid allows merging several grid cells too (see e.g. SpanFromLeft). This is just some of the most obvious differences.

Answer 2

If I am making something ad hoc I often use Column and Row but later re-write as Grid once I have settled on what I want. I find Grid easier to maintain and more flexible.

Grid and Column are both GridBox whereas Row is RowBox. There are some limitations with RowBox -- for example one thing that comes to mind is limited FrameStyle compared to what is available in GridBox

Row[{1, 22, 333}, Background -> Red, Frame -> True, 
 FrameStyle -> Directive[Dashed]]

Grid[{{1, 22, 333}}, Background -> Red, Frame -> True, 
 FrameStyle -> Directive[Dashed]]

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For some reason I always seem to find it easier to position elements in a Grid cell than a Row -- maybe just lack of perseverance on my part (?). Row allows numbered alignments Alignment->{-0.5,0.5} but I don't really see the point. On the other hand this would be useful in Grid but a known bug since at least V7 prevents it from working.