Tables

Defining HTML Tables

<table style="width:100%">
  <tr>
    <td>Jill</td>
    <td>Smith</td> 
    <td>50</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Eve</td>
    <td>Jackson</td> 
    <td>94</td>
  </tr>
</table>

Tables are defined with the <table> tag.

Tables are divided into table rows with the <tr> tag.

Table rows are divided into table data with the <td> tag.

A table row can also be divided into table headings with the <th> tag.

Border Attribute

If you do not specify a border for the table, it will be displayed without borders. A border can be added using the border attribute.

<table border="1" style="width:100%">
  <tr>
    <td>Jill</td>
    <td>Smith</td> 
    <td>50</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Eve</td>
    <td>Jackson</td> 
    <td>94</td>
  </tr>
</table>

To add borders, use the CSS border property:

table, th, td {
    border: 1px solid black;
}

Remember to define borders for both the table and the table cells.

Collapsed Borders

If you want the borders to collapse into one border, add CSS border-collapse:

table, th, td {
    border: 1px solid black;
    border-collapse: collapse;
}

Cell Padding

Cell padding specifies the space between the cell content and its borders. If you do not specify a padding, the table cells will be displayed without padding.

To set the padding, use the CSS padding property:

table, th, td {
    border: 1px solid black;
    border-collapse: collapse;
}
th, td {
    padding: 15px;
}

Table Headings

Table headings are defined with the <th> tag.

By default, all major browsers display table headings as bold and centered:

<table style="width:100%">
  <tr>
    <th>Firstname</th>
    <th>Lastname</th> 
    <th>Points</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Eve</td>
    <td>Jackson</td> 
    <td>94</td>
  </tr>
</table>

To left-align the table headings, use the CSS text-align property:

th {
    text-align: left;
}

Border Spacing

Border spacing specifies the space between the cells.

To set the border spacing for a table, use the CSS border-spacing property:

table {
    border-spacing: 5px;
}

Table Cells that Span Many Columns

To make a cell span more than one column, use the colspan attribute:

<table style="width:100%">
  <tr>
    <th>Name</th>
    <th colspan="2">Telephone</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Bill Gates</td>
    <td>555 77 854</td>
    <td>555 77 855</td>
  </tr>
</table>

Table Cells that Span Many Rows

To make a cell span more than one row, use the rowspan attribute:

<table style="width:100%">
  <tr>
    <th>Name:</th>
    <td>Bill Gates</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <th rowspan="2">Telephone:</th>
    <td>555 77 854</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>555 77 855</td>
  </tr>
</table>

Caption

To add a caption to a table, use the <caption> tag, The <caption> tag must be inserted immediately after the <table> tag.:

<table style="width:100%">
  <caption>Monthly savings</caption>
  <tr>
    <th>Month</th>
    <th>Savings</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>January</td>
    <td>$100</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>February</td>
    <td>$50</td>
  </tr>
</table>

A Special Style for One Table

To define a special style for a special table, add an id attribute to the table:

<table id="t01">
  <tr>
    <th>Firstname</th>
    <th>Lastname</th> 
    <th>Points</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Eve</td>
    <td>Jackson</td> 
    <td>94</td>
  </tr>
</table>

table#t01 {
    width: 100%; 
    background-color: #f1f1c1;
}
table#t01 tr:nth-child(even) {
    background-color: #eee;
}
table#t01 tr:nth-child(odd) {
    background-color: #fff;
}
table#t01 th {
    color: white;
    background-color: black;
}

Summary

• Use the HTML <table> element to define a table
• Use the HTML <tr> element to define a table row
• Use the HTML <td> element to define a table data
• Use the HTML <th> element to define a table heading
• Use the HTML <caption> element to define a table caption
• Use the CSS border property to define a border
• Use the CSS border-collapse property to collapse cell borders
• Use the CSS padding property to add padding to cells
• Use the CSS text-align property to align cell text
• Use the CSS border-spacing property to set the spacing between cells
• Use the colspan attribute to make a cell span many columns
• Use the rowspan attribute to make a cell span many rows
• Use the id attribute to uniquely define one table