HTML Tables
HTML tables allow web developers to arrange data into rows and columns.
Example
Company | Contact | Country |
---|---|---|
Alfreds Futterkiste | Maria Anders | Germany |
Centro comercial Moctezuma | Francisco Chang | Mexico |
Ernst Handel | Roland Mendel | Austria |
Island Trading | Helen Bennett | UK |
Laughing Bacchus Winecellars | Yoshi Tannamuri | Canada |
Magazzini Alimentari Riuniti | Giovanni Rovelli | Italy |
Define an HTML Table
The <table>
tag defines an HTML table.
Each table row is defined with a <tr>
tag.
Each table header is
defined with a <th>
tag. Each table data/cell is defined with
a
<td>
tag.
By default, the text in <th>
elements
are bold and centered.
By default, the text in <td>
elements
are regular and left-aligned.
Example
A simple HTML table:
<table style="width:100%">
<tr>
<th>Firstname</th>
<th>Lastname</th>
<th>Age</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Jill</td>
<td>Smith</td>
<td>50</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Eve</td>
<td>Jackson</td>
<td>94</td>
</tr>
</table>
Try it Yourself »
Note: The <td>
elements are the data containers of the table.
They can contain
all sorts of HTML elements; text, images, lists, other tables, etc.
HTML Table - Add a Border
To add a border to a table, use the CSS border
property:
Remember to define borders for both the table and the table cells.
HTML Table - Collapsed Borders
To let the borders collapse into one border, add the CSS border-collapse
property:
HTML Table - Add 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:
HTML Table - Left-align Headings
By default, table headings are bold and centered.
To left-align the table headings, use the CSS text-align
property:
HTML Table - Add Border Spacing
Border spacing specifies the space between the cells.
To set the border spacing for a table, use the CSS border-spacing
property:
Note: If the table has collapsed borders, border-spacing
has no effect.
HTML Table - Cell that Spans Many Columns
To make a cell span more than one column, use the colspan
attribute:
Example
<table style="width:100%">
<tr>
<th>Name</th>
<th colspan="2">Telephone</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Bill Gates</td>
<td>55577854</td>
<td>55577855</td>
</tr>
</table>
Try it Yourself »
HTML Table - Cell that Spans Many Rows
To make a cell span more than one row, use the rowspan
attribute:
Example
<table style="width:100%">
<tr>
<th>Name:</th>
<td>Bill Gates</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th rowspan="2">Telephone:</th>
<td>55577854</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>55577855</td>
</tr>
</table>
Try it Yourself »
HTML Table - Add a Caption
To add a caption to a table, use the <caption>
tag:
Example
<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>
Try it Yourself »
Note: The <caption>
tag must be inserted immediately after the <table>
tag.
A Special Style for One Table
To define a special style for one particular table, add an id
attribute to the table:
Example
<table id="t01">
<tr>
<th>Firstname</th>
<th>Lastname</th>
<th>Age</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Eve</td>
<td>Jackson</td>
<td>94</td>
</tr>
</table>
Now you can define a special style for this table:
#t01 {
width: 100%;
background-color: #f1f1c1;
}
Try it Yourself »
And add more styles:
#t01 tr:nth-child(even) {
background-color: #eee;
}
#t01 tr:nth-child(odd) {
background-color: #fff;
}
#t01 th {
color: white;
background-color: black;
}
Try it Yourself »
Chapter 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
HTML Table Tags
Tag | Description |
---|---|
<table> | Defines a table |
<th> | Defines a header cell in a table |
<tr> | Defines a row in a table |
<td> | Defines a cell in a table |
<caption> | Defines a table caption |
<colgroup> | Specifies a group of one or more columns in a table for formatting |
<col> | Specifies column properties for each column within a <colgroup> element |
<thead> | Groups the header content in a table |
<tbody> | Groups the body content in a table |
<tfoot> | Groups the footer content in a table |
For a complete list of all available HTML tags, visit our HTML Tag Reference.