One strategy I've used is to hide and show table content using media queries. I even have a custom "mobile optimized" column that I can show and hide (yes it's not amazing for performance but it's easy to do!)
Example of how I would use my "mobile optimized" column:
Let's say you have a list of clothing items:
Here's how the table might look
product name | color | size | shipping notes
awesome shirt | white | xl | us-only)
you can condensing some of them into a single column sentence view that wraps nicely e.g.
Here's how your "hidden" mobile only sentence looks:
**Awesome Shirt** - Shirt comes in white, xl. Only ships to US.
You can use media queries to show/hide this column
Benefits of using this method:
- Actually takes up less space then using DLs
- You don't need any javascript or server side mobile detection
- Really I've found I typically need to tailor the content slightly for mobile anyhow...
- Pretty fast to implement
Drawbacks:
- Sending more html
- You're repeating yourself..