CSS Tables

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

Company Contact Country
Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Germany
Berglunds snabbköp Christina Berglund Sweden
Centro comercial Moctezuma Francisco Chang Mexico
Ernst Handel Roland Mendel Austria
Island Trading Helen Bennett UK
Königlich Essen Philip Cramer Germany
Laughing Bacchus Winecellars Yoshi Tannamuri Canada
Magazzini Alimentari Riuniti Giovanni Rovelli Italy
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
table, th, td {
   border: 1px solid black;
}
»
Notice that the table in the example above has double borders. This is because both the table and the <th> and <td> elements have separate borders.

Collapse Table Borders
The border-collapse property sets whether the table borders should be collapsed into a single border:

Example
table {
    border-collapse: collapse;
}

table, th, td {
    border: 1px solid black;
}
»
If you only want a border around the table, only specify the border property for <table>:

Example
table {
    border: 1px solid black;
}
»
Table Width and Height
Width and height of a table are 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
table {
    width: 100%;
}

th {
    height: 50px;
}
»
Horizontal Alignment
The text-align property sets the horizontal alignment (like left, right, or center) of the content in <th> or <td>.

By default, the content of <th> elements are center-aligned and the content of <td> elements are left-aligned.

The following example left-aligns the text in <th> elements:

Example
th {
    text-align: left;
}
»
Vertical Alignment
The vertical-align property sets the vertical alignment (like top, bottom, or middle) of the content in <th> or <td>.

By default, the vertical alignment of the content in a table is middle (for both <th> and <td> elements).

The following example sets the vertical text alignment to bottom for <td> elements:

Example
td {
    height: 50px;
    vertical-align: bottom;
}
»
Table Padding
To control the space between the border and the content in a table, use the padding property on <td> and <th> elements:

Example
th, td {
    padding: 15px;
    text-align: left;
}
»
Horizontal Dividers
First Name Last Name Savings
Peter Griffin $100
Lois Griffin $150
Joe Swanson $300
Add the border-bottom property to <th> and <td> for horizontal dividers:

Example
th, td {
    border-bottom: 1px solid #ddd;
}
»
Hoverable Table
Use the :hover selector on <tr> to highlight table rows on mouse over:

First Name Last Name Savings
Peter Griffin $100
Lois Griffin $150
Joe Swanson $300
Example
tr:hover {background-color: #f5f5f5}
»
Striped Tables
First Name Last Name Savings
Peter Griffin $100
Lois Griffin $150
Joe Swanson $300
For zebra-striped tables, use the nth-child() selector and add a background-color to all even (or odd) table rows:

Example
tr:nth-child(even) {background-color: #f2f2f2}
»
Table Color
The example below specifies the background color and text color of <th> elements:

First Name Last Name Savings
Peter Griffin $100
Lois Griffin $150
Joe Swanson $300
Example
th {
    background-color: #4CAF50;
    color: white;
}
»
Responsive Table
A responsive table will display a horizontal scroll bar if the screen is too small to display the full content:

First Name Last Name Points Points Points Points Points Points Points Points Points Points Points Points
Jill Smith 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50
Eve Jackson 94 94 94 94 94 94 94 94 94 94 94 94
Adam Johnson 67 67 67 67 67 67 67 67 67 67 67 67
Add a container element (like <div>) with overflow-x:auto around the <table> element to make it responsive:

Example
<div style="overflow-x:auto;">

<table>
... table content ...
</table>

</div>
»
More Examples
Make a fancy table
This example demonstrates how to create a fancy table.

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

Test Yourself with Exercises!
Exercise 1 »  Exercise 2 »  Exercise 3 »  Exercise 4 »  Exercise 5 »  Exercise 6 »

CSS Table Properties
Property Description
border Sets all the border properties in one declaration
border-collapse Specifies whether or not table borders should be collapsed
border-spacing Specifies the distance between the borders of adjacent cells
caption-side Specifies the placement of a table caption
empty-cells Specifies whether or not to display borders and background on empty cells in a table
table-layout Sets the layout algorithm to be used for a table

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