CSS Tables

The look of an HTML table can be greatly improved with CSS:

CompanyContactCountry
Alfreds FutterkisteMaria AndersGermany
Berglunds snabbköpChristina BerglundSweden
Centro comercial MoctezumaFrancisco ChangMexico
Ernst HandelRoland MendelAustria
Island TradingHelen BennettUK
Königlich EssenPhilip CramerGermany
Laughing Bacchus WinecellarsYoshi TannamuriCanada
Magazzini Alimentari RiunitiGiovanni RovelliItaly
North/SouthSimon CrowtherUK
Paris spécialitésMarie BertrandFrance
The Big CheeseLiz NixonUSA
VaffeljernetPalle IbsenDenmark

Table Borders

To specify table borders in CSS, use the border property.
The example below specifies a black border for table, th, and td elements:

Example

<html>
<head>
<style type="text/css">
table,th,td
{
border:1px solid black;
}
</style>
</head>

<body>
<table>
<tr>
<th>Firstname</th>
<th>Lastname</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Peter</td>
<td>Griffin</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Lois</td>
<td>Griffin</td>
</tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>

Try it yourself in Notepad or Dreamweaver by coping and pasting the code above.
Result:
FirstnameLastname
PeterGriffin
LoisGriffin


Notice that the table in the example above has double borders. This is because both the table and the th/td elements have separate borders.
To display a single border for the table, use the border-collapse property.

Collapse Borders

The border-collapse property sets whether the table borders are collapsed into a single border or separated:

Example

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html>
<head>
<style type="text/css">
table
{
border-collapse:collapse;
}
table, td, th
{
border:1px solid black;
}
</style>
</head>

<body>
<table>
<tr>
<th>Firstname</th>
<th>Lastname</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Peter</td>
<td>Griffin</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Lois</td>
<td>Griffin</td>
</tr>
</table>
<p><b>Note:</b> If a !DOCTYPE is not specified, the border-collapse property can produce unexpected results 
in IE8 and earlier versions.</p>
</body>
</html>

Try it yourself in Notepad or Dreamweaver by coping and pasting the code above.
Result:

FirstnameLastname
PeterGriffin
LoisGriffin

Note: If a !DOCTYPE is not specified, the border-collapse property can produce unexpected results in IE8 and earlier versions.

Table Width and Height

Width and height of a table is defined by the width and height properties.
The example below sets the width of the table to 100%, and the height of the th elements to 50px:

Example

<html>
<head>
<style type="text/css">
table,td,th
{
border:1px solid black;
}
table
{
width:100%;
}
th
{
height:50px;
}
</style>
</head>

<body>
<table>
<tr>
<th>Firstname</th>
<th>Lastname</th>
<th>Savings</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Peter</td>
<td>Griffin</td>
<td>$100</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Lois</td>
<td>Griffin</td>
<td>$150</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Joe</td>
<td>Swanson</td>
<td>$300</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Cleveland</td>
<td>Brown</td>
<td>$250</td>
</tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>

Try it yourself in Notepad or Dreamweaver by coping and pasting the code above.
Result:

FirstnameLastnameSavings
PeterGriffin$100
LoisGriffin$150
JoeSwanson$300
ClevelandBrown$250

Table Text Alignment

The text in a table is aligned with the text-align and vertical-align properties.
The text-align property sets the horizontal alignment, like left, right, or center:

Example

<html>
<head>
<style type="text/css">
table,td,th
{
border:1px solid black;
}
td
{
text-align:right;
}
</style>
</head>

<body>
<table>
<tr>
<th>Firstname</th>
<th>Lastname</th>
<th>Savings</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Peter</td>
<td>Griffin</td>
<td>$100</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Lois</td>
<td>Griffin</td>
<td>$150</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Joe</td>
<td>Swanson</td>
<td>$300</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Cleveland</td>
<td>Brown</td>
<td>$250</td>
</tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>

Try it yourself in Notepad or Dreamweaver by coping and pasting the code above.
The vertical-align property sets the vertical alignment, like top, bottom, or middle:

Example

<html>
<head>
<style type="text/css">
table, td, th
{
border:1px solid black;
}
td
{
height:50px;
vertical-align:bottom;
}
</style>
</head>

<body>
<table>
<tr>
<th>Firstname</th>
<th>Lastname</th>
<th>Savings</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Peter</td>
<td>Griffin</td>
<td>$100</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Lois</td>
<td>Griffin</td>
<td>$150</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Joe</td>
<td>Swanson</td>
<td>$300</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Cleveland</td>
<td>Brown</td>
<td>$250</td>
</tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>

Try it yourself in Notepad or Dreamweaver by coping and pasting the code above.
Result:

FirstnameLastnameSavings
PeterGriffin$100
LoisGriffin$150
JoeSwanson$300
ClevelandBrown$250

Table Padding

To control the space between the border and content in a table, use the padding property on td and th elements:

Example

<html>
<head>
<style type="text/css">
table, td, th
{
border:1px solid black;
}
td
{
padding:15px;
}
</style>
</head>

<body>
<table>
<tr>
<th>Firstname</th>
<th>Lastname</th>
<th>Savings</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Peter</td>
<td>Griffin</td>
<td>$100</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Lois</td>
<td>Griffin</td>
<td>$150</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Joe</td>
<td>Swanson</td>
<td>$300</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Cleveland</td>
<td>Brown</td>
<td>$250</td>
</tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>

Try it yourself in Notepad or Dreamweaver by coping and pasting the code above.
Result:

FirstnameLastnameSavings
PeterGriffin$100
LoisGriffin$150
JoeSwanson$300
ClevelandBrown$250

Table Color

The example below specifies the color of the borders, and the text and background color of th elements:

Example

<html>
<head>
<style type="text/css">
table, td, th
{
border:1px solid green;
}
th
{
background-color:green;
color:white;
}
</style>
</head>

<body>
<table>
<tr>
<th>Firstname</th>
<th>Lastname</th>
<th>Savings</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Peter</td>
<td>Griffin</td>
<td>$100</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Lois</td>
<td>Griffin</td>
<td>$150</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Joe</td>
<td>Swanson</td>
<td>$300</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Cleveland</td>
<td>Brown</td>
<td>$250</td>
</tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>

Try it yourself in Notepad or Dreamweaver by coping and pasting the code above.
Result:

FirstnameLastnameSavings
PeterGriffin$100
LoisGriffin$150
JoeSwanson$300
ClevelandBrown$250

More Examples

Make a fancy table
This example demonstrates how to create a fancy table.
Example

<html>
<head>
<style type="text/css">
#customers
{
font-family:"Trebuchet MS", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
width:100%;
border-collapse:collapse;
}
#customers td, #customers th 
{
font-size:1em;
border:1px solid #98bf21;
padding:3px 7px 2px 7px;
}
#customers th 
{
font-size:1.1em;
text-align:left;
padding-top:5px;
padding-bottom:4px;
background-color:#A7C942;
color:#ffffff;
}
#customers tr.alt td 
{
color:#000000;
background-color:#EAF2D3;
}
</style>
</head>


<body>
<table id="customers">
<tr>
  <th>Company</th>
  <th>Contact</th>
  <th>Country</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Alfreds Futterkiste</td>
<td>Maria Anders</td>
<td>Germany</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt">
<td>Berglunds snabbköp</td>
<td>Christina Berglund</td>
<td>Sweden</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Centro comercial Moctezuma</td>
<td>Francisco Chang</td>
<td>Mexico</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt">
<td>Ernst Handel</td>
<td>Roland Mendel</td>
<td>Austria</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Island Trading</td>
<td>Helen Bennett</td>
<td>UK</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt">
<td>Königlich Essen</td>
<td>Philip Cramer</td>
<td>Germany</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Laughing Bacchus Winecellars</td>
<td>Yoshi Tannamuri</td>
<td>Canada</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt">
<td>Magazzini Alimentari Riuniti</td>
<td>Giovanni Rovelli</td>
<td>Italy</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>North/South</td>
<td>Simon Crowther</td>
<td>UK</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt">
<td>Paris spécialités</td>
<td>Marie Bertrand</td>
<td>France</td>
</tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>

Try it yourself in Notepad or Dreamweaver by coping and pasting the code above.
Result:
CompanyContactCountry
Alfreds FutterkisteMaria AndersGermany
Berglunds snabbköpChristina BerglundSweden
Centro comercial MoctezumaFrancisco ChangMexico
Ernst HandelRoland MendelAustria
Island TradingHelen BennettUK
Königlich EssenPhilip CramerGermany
Laughing Bacchus WinecellarsYoshi TannamuriCanada
Magazzini Alimentari RiunitiGiovanni RovelliItaly
North/SouthSimon CrowtherUK
Paris spécialitésMarie BertrandFrance

Set the position of the table caption
This example demonstrates how to position the table caption.

Example

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html>
<head>
<style type="text/css">
caption {caption-side:bottom;}
</style>
</head>


<body>


<table border="1">
<caption>Table 1.1 Customers</caption>
<tr>
  <th>Company</th>
  <th>Contact</th>
  <th>Country</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Alfreds Futterkiste</td>
<td>Maria Anders</td>
<td>Germany</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Berglunds snabbköp</td>
<td>Christina Berglund</td>
<td>Sweden</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Centro comercial Moctezuma</td>
<td>Francisco Chang</td>
<td>Mexico</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Ernst Handel</td>
<td>Roland Mendel</td>
<td>Austria</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Island Trading</td>
<td>Helen Bennett</td>
<td>UK</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Magazzini Alimentari Riuniti</td>
<td>Giovanni Rovelli</td>
<td>Italy</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>North/South</td>
<td>Simon Crowther</td>
<td>UK</td>
</tr>
</table>


<p><b>Note:</b> IE8 supports the caption-side 
property if a !DOCTYPE is specified.</p>
</body>
</html>

Try it yourself in Notepad or Dreamweaver by coping and pasting the code above.
Result:
Table 1.1 Customers
CompanyContactCountry
Alfreds FutterkisteMaria AndersGermany
Berglunds snabbköpChristina BerglundSweden
Centro comercial MoctezumaFrancisco ChangMexico
Ernst HandelRoland MendelAustria
Island TradingHelen BennettUK
Magazzini Alimentari RiunitiGiovanni RovelliItaly
North/SouthSimon CrowtherUK
Note: IE8 supports the caption-side property if a !DOCTYPE is specified.

7:18 AM , 0

Leave a Reply