HTML Tables Tutorial
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To create a table in HTML you need to use some tags, which include:
- <table>
- <thead>
- <tbody>
- <tfoot>
- <tr>
- <th>
- <td>
- <caption>
Here is the list of tag names and their abbreviations:
| Tag | Stands For |
| <thead> | Table Head |
| <tbody> | Table Body |
| <tfoot> | Table Foot |
| <tr> | Table Row |
| <th> | Table Cell of <thead>. |
| <td> | Table Data (Table Cell of <tbody>) |
Basically, a table is divided into 4 sections:
- <caption>
- <thead>
- <tbody>
- <tfoot>
<table border="1">
<caption>A Caption</caption>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Countries</th>
<th>Capitals</th>
<th>Population</th>
<th>Language</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>USA</td>
<td>Washington, D.C.</td>
<td>309 million</td>
<td>English</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Sweden</td>
<td>Stockholm</td>
<td>9 million</td>
<td>Swedish</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td> </td>
<td> </td>
<td>318 million</td>
<td> </td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
</table>
You probably do not need the <thead>, <tbody>, <tfoot> tags; therefore, the example above can be written more briefly like this:
<table border="1">
<caption>A Caption</caption>
<tr>
<th>Countries</th>
<th>Capitals</th>
<th>Population</th>
<th>Language</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>USA</td>
<td>Washington, D.C.</td>
<td>309 million</td>
<td>English</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Sweden</td>
<td>Stockholm</td>
<td>9 million</td>
<td>Swedish</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> </td>
<td> </td>
<td>318 million</td>
<td> </td>
</tr>
</table>
Colspan
The colspan attribute of the <th> or the <td> tags helps you merge the consecutive cells within the same row.
<table border="1">
<tr>
<th>Countries</th>
<th>Capitals</th>
<th>Population</th>
<th>Language</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>USA</td>
<td>Washington, D.C.</td>
<td>309 million</td>
<td>English</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Sweden</td>
<td>Stockholm</td>
<td>9 million</td>
<td>Swedish</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2"> </td>
<td>318 million</td>
<td> </td>
</tr>
</table>
<table border="1">
<caption>Invoice</caption>
<tr>
<th>Item / Desc.</th>
<th>Qty.</th>
<th>@</th>
<th>Price</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Paperclips (Box)</td>
<td>100</td>
<td>1.15</td>
<td>115.00</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Paper (Case)</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>45.99</td>
<td>459.90</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Wastepaper Baskets</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>17.99</td>
<td>35.98</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th colspan="3">Subtotal</th>
<td>610.88</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th colspan="2">Tax</th>
<td>7%</td>
<td>42.76</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th colspan="3">Total</th>
<td>653.64</td>
</tr>
</table>
Rowspan
The rowspan attribute of the <th> or the <td> tags helps you merge the consecutive cells within the same column.
<table border="1">
<caption>Favorite and Least Favorite Things</caption>
<tr>
<th></th>
<th></th>
<th>Bob</th>
<th>Alice</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th rowspan="2">Favorite</th>
<th>Color</th>
<td>Blue</td>
<td>Purple</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Flavor</th>
<td>Banana</td>
<td>Chocolate</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th rowspan="2">Least Favorite</th>
<th>Color</th>
<td>Yellow</td>
<td>Pink</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Flavor</th>
<td>Mint</td>
<td>Walnut</td>
</tr>
</table>
Complex example:
Here is a complex example with colspan and rowspan:
<table border="1">
<caption>A complex table</caption>
<thead>
<tr>
<th colspan="3">Invoice #123456789</th>
<th>14 January 2025
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2">
<strong>Pay to:</strong>
<br> Acme Billing Co.
<br> 123 Main St.
<br> Cityville, NA 12345
</td>
<td colspan="2">
<strong>Customer:</strong>
<br> John Smith
<br> 321 Willow Way
<br> Southeast Northwestershire, MA 54321
</td>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<th>Name / Description</th>
<th>Qty.</th>
<th>@</th>
<th>Cost</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Paperclips</td>
<td>1000</td>
<td>0.01</td>
<td>10.00</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Staples (box)</td>
<td>100</td>
<td>1.00</td>
<td>100.00</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<th colspan="3">Subtotal</th>
<td> 110.00</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th colspan="2">Tax</th>
<td> 8% </td>
<td>8.80</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th colspan="3">Grand Total</th>
<td>$ 118.80</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
</table>
You may find it difficult to create a table with the complex structure. However, you do not need to worry about it, there are a few tools online that help you visually create a table as well as generate the HTML code for you. Take this as an example:
The <col> and <colgroup> tags represent a column and a column group of table. You can learn about them in the article below:
By default, the table does not have a border, so you can use the border attribute to set the border for it.
<h2>Table without border</h2>
<table>
<tr>
<th>First Name</th>
<th>Last Name</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>John</td>
<td>Smith</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Peter</td>
<td>Smith</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h2>Table with border</h2>
<table border="1">
<tr>
<th>First Name</th>
<th>Last Name</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>John</td>
<td>Smith</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Peter</td>
<td>Smith</td>
</tr>
</table>
Note: The HTML5 does not really support the border attribute of <table>, even though all of the browsers still support it. The HTML5 recommends that you use CSS to set the border for the table.
- Set the border for <table>.
- Set the border for the cells of the table, namely the <th> and the <td> tags.
table {
border: 1px solid red;
}
th, td {
border: 1px solid blue;
}
css-border-example.html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Table Border</title>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<style>
table {
border: 1px solid red;
}
th, td {
border: 1px solid blue;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h2>Table CSS border</h2>
<table>
<tr>
<th>First Name</th>
<th>Last Name</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>John</td>
<td>Smith</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Peter</td>
<td>Smith</td>
</tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>
border-collapse
CSS border-collapse is used for the <table> tag to decide whether two adjacent cells use a single border or two separate borders.
| border-collapse | Description |
| separate | Two adjacent cells will use two separate borders.(Default). |
| collapse | Two adjacent cells use a single border. |
| inherit | Inherit the border-collapse property from the <table> parent element. |
border-collapse-example.html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Table border-collapse</title>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<style>
table, th, td {
border: 1px solid black;
}
#table1 {
border-collapse: separate;
}
#table2 {
border-collapse: collapse;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h2>border-collapse: separate (Default)</h2>
<table id="table1">
<tr>
<th>First Name</th>
<th>Last Name</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>John</td>
<td>Smith</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Peter</td>
<td>Smith</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h2>border-collapse: collapse</h2>
<table id="table2">
<tr>
<th>First Name</th>
<th>Last Name</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>John</td>
<td>Smith</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Peter</td>
<td>Smith</td>
</tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>
Use CSS width to set the width of the table:
table {
width: 100%;
}
table {
width: 500px;
}
width-example.html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>CSS Width</title>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<style>
table {
width: 100%;
}
table, th, td {
border: 1px solid black;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h2>CSS width:100%;</h2>
<table>
<tr>
<th>Countries</th>
<th>Capitals</th>
<th>Population</th>
<th>Language</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>USA</td>
<td>Washington, D.C.</td>
<td>309 million</td>
<td>English</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Sweden</td>
<td>Stockholm</td>
<td>9 million</td>
<td>Swedish</td>
</tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>
CSS border-spacing sets the border spacing between two cells of the table.
table, th, td {
border: 1px solid black;
}
table {
border-spacing: 25px;
}
border-spacing-example.html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Table CSS border-spacing</title>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<style>
table, th, td {
border: 1px solid black;
}
table {
border-spacing: 25px;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h2>Table CSS border-spacing</h2>
<table>
<tr>
<th>Countries</th>
<th>Capitals</th>
<th>Population</th>
<th>Language</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>USA</td>
<td>Washington, D.C.</td>
<td>309 million</td>
<td>English</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Sweden</td>
<td>Stockholm</td>
<td>9 million</td>
<td>Swedish</td>
</tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>
Table padding
table-padding-example.html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>CSS Table padding</title>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<style>
table {
padding: 25px;
}
table, th, td {
border: 1px solid black;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h2>CSS Table padding</h2>
<table>
<tr>
<th>Countries</th>
<th>Capitals</th>
<th>Population</th>
<th>Language</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>USA</td>
<td>Washington, D.C.</td>
<td>309 million</td>
<td>English</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Sweden</td>
<td>Stockholm</td>
<td>9 million</td>
<td>Swedish</td>
</tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>
Table padding & border-spacing
padding-border-spacing-example.html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Table CSS border-spacing, padding</title>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<style>
table, th, td {
border: 1px solid black;
}
table {
border-spacing: 25px;
padding: 30px;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h2>Table CSS border-spacing, Table padding</h2>
<table>
<tr>
<th>Countries</th>
<th>Capitals</th>
<th>Population</th>
<th>Language</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>USA</td>
<td>Washington, D.C.</td>
<td>309 million</td>
<td>English</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Sweden</td>
<td>Stockholm</td>
<td>9 million</td>
<td>Swedish</td>
</tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>
Cell padding
You can set the CSS padding for the cells of the table, specifically set the CSS padding for the <td> and the <th> tags.
td {
padding: 25px;
}
th {
padding: 25px;
}
cell-padding-example.html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Table CSS Cell padding</title>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<style>
table, th, td {
border: 1px solid black;
}
td {
padding: 25px;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h2>Table CSS Cell padding</h2>
<table>
<tr>
<th>Countries</th>
<th>Capitals</th>
<th>Population</th>
<th>Language</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>USA</td>
<td>Washington, D.C.</td>
<td>309 million</td>
<td>English</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Sweden</td>
<td>Stockholm</td>
<td>9 million</td>
<td>Swedish</td>
</tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>
CSS text-align can be used for the <th> and the <td> to align the horizontal position of the content in the <th> or the <td> tags.
CSS text-align can be used for the <th> and the <td> to align the vertical position of the content in the <th> or the <td> tags.
Here is an example using CSS text-align, CSS vertical-align along with the <th> and the <td> tags:
align-example.html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Table align</title>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<style>
table, th, td {
border: 1px solid black;
}
th, td {
padding: 10px;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h2>th, td (text-align, vertical-align)</h2>
<table>
<tr>
<th rowspan="2"></th>
<th colspan="2">Average</th>
<th rowspan="2" style="vertical-align:middle">Red eyes</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>height</td>
<td>weight</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Males</td>
<td style="text-align:right">1.9</td>
<td>0.003</td>
<td style="text-align:center">40%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Females</td>
<td style="text-align:right">1.7</td>
<td>0.002</td>
<td style="text-align:center">43%</td>
</tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>
As the width of the table becomes narrower, the text in the cells tends to show in multiple lines.
If you want to avoid the aforementioned problem, use CSS white-space: nowrap.
nowrap-example.html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>CSS white-space:nowrap</title>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<style>
table, th, td {
border: 1px solid black;
}
th, td {
padding: 5px;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h2>CSS white-space:nowrap</h2>
<table>
<tr>
<th>Full Name</th>
<th>Gender</th>
<th>Job</th>
<th>Hire Date</th>
<th>Salary</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Joanna Smith</td>
<td>Female</td>
<td style="white-space:nowrap;">Database Administrator</td>
<td>2000-10-11</td>
<td>5000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Peter White</td>
<td>Male</td>
<td style="white-space:nowrap;">Administrative Support</td>
<td>2010-10-21</td>
<td>7000</td>
</tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>
