I've got a simple table that is used for an inbox as follows:
<table border="1">
<tr>
<th>From</th>
<th>Subject</th>
<th>Date</th>
</tr>
</table>
How do I set the width so the From and Date are 15% of the page width and the Subject is 70%. I also want the table to take up the whole page width.
You can set the width of a table column using the CSS width property of the col element. The width value is most commonly specified in pixels (width: 200px;), or as a percentage of the width of the parent element (width: 50%;). Example with inline style attribute:
<table style="width: 100%">
<colgroup>
<col span="1" style="width: 15%;">
<col span="1" style="width: 70%;">
<col span="1" style="width: 15%;">
</colgroup>
<!-- Put <thead>, <tbody>, and <tr>'s here! -->
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="background-color: #777">15%</td>
<td style="background-color: #aaa">70%</td>
<td style="background-color: #777">15%</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
width attribute; it is using a CSS *style* width, which is what replaced the <col> width attribute. (despite the multiple people up-voting that comment!!)
span="1" is superfluous since 1 is the default.table {
width: 100%;
border: 1px solid #000;
}
th.from, th.date {
width: 15%
}
th.subject {
width: 70%; /* Not necessary, since only 70% width remains */
}<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th class="from">From</th>
<th class="subject">Subject</th>
<th class="date">Date</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>[from]</td>
<td>[subject]</td>
<td>[date]</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>The best practice is to keep your HTML and CSS separate for less code duplication, and for separation of concerns (HTML for structure and semantics, and CSS for presentation).
Note that, for this to work in older versions of Internet Explorer, you may have to give your table a specific width (e.g., 900px). That browser has some problems rendering an element with percentage dimensions if its wrapper doesn't have exact dimensions.
min-width instead of width for it to work, but overall great, thanks.
width for <td>s (not just <th>s).Use the CSS below, the first declaration will ensure your table sticks to the widths you provide (you'll need to add the classes in your HTML):
table{
table-layout:fixed;
}
th.from, th.date {
width: 15%;
}
th.subject{
width: 70%;
}
table{table-layout:fixed};.from,.date{width:15%} is enough. Unless the classes are used on other elements too, writing th.from is redundant and can be shortened to just .from.
table-layout: fixed is a real gotcha! This answer should really be higher up.Alternative way with just one class while keeping your styles in a CSS file, which even works in IE7:
<table class="mytable">
<tr>
<th>From</th>
<th>Subject</th>
<th>Date</th>
</tr>
</table>
<style>
.mytable td, .mytable th { width:15%; }
.mytable td + td, .mytable th + th { width:70%; }
.mytable td + td + td, .mytable th + th + th { width:15%; }
</style>
More recently, you can also use the nth-child() selector from CSS3 (IE9+), where you'd just put the nr. of the respective column into the parenthesis instead of stringing them together with the adjacent selector. Like this, for example:
<style>
.mytable tr > *:nth-child(1) { width:15%; }
.mytable tr > *:nth-child(2) { width:70%; }
.mytable tr > *:nth-child(3) { width:15%; }
</style>
:nth-child solution is horrible in terms of performance. There is no valid reason to use it (especially with the universal selector) in this example where there are only three elements (th or col) to style. Additionally, you only need to set width to the th in the first row. The .mytable td in the first example is redundant.
tr and then whether they belong to .mytable. If you really want to use "nth" then something like this will probably be much better: .mytable th:nth-of-type(1) {width: 15%}; .mytable th:nth-of-type(2) {width: 70%};. There is also no need to specify the third column width in this case..mytable th+th{width: 70%}.mytable th+th+th{width:15%}. The "nth" selectors themselves may be very useful but in this particular case (a tiny table with only 3 columns) are not really needed. When using table-layout: fixed you can even do just this: table{table-layout:fixed}th:first-child+th{width:70%}.These are my two suggestions.
Using classes. There is no need to specify width of the two other columns as they will be set to 15% each automatically by the browser.
table { table-layout: fixed; }
.subject { width: 70%; } <table>
<tr>
<th>From</th>
<th class="subject">Subject</th>
<th>Date</th>
</tr>
</table>Without using classes. Three different methods but the result is identical.
a)
table { table-layout: fixed; }
th+th { width: 70%; }
th+th+th { width: 15%; } <table>
<tr>
<th>From</th>
<th>Subject</th>
<th>Date</th>
</tr>
</table>b)
table { table-layout: fixed; }
th:nth-of-type(2) { width: 70%; } <table>
<tr>
<th>From</th>
<th>Subject</th>
<th>Date</th>
</tr>
</table>c) This one is my favourite. Same as b) but with better browser support.
table { table-layout: fixed; }
th:first-child+th { width: 70%; } <table>
<tr>
<th>From</th>
<th>Subject</th>
<th>Date</th>
</tr>
</table>Add colgroup after your table tag. Define width and number of columns here, and add the tbody tag. Put your tr inside of tbody.
<table>
<colgroup>
<col span="1" style="width: 30%;">
<col span="1" style="width: 70%;">
</colgroup>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>First column</td>
<td>Second column</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
table-layout: "fixed" on the table using css. You also dont need the styles on the col. Afterwards, you specify the width as the colspan on the individual td cells eg <td colspan="3"></td>Try this instead.
<table style="width: 100%">
<tr>
<th style="width: 20%">
column 1
</th>
<th style="width: 40%">
column 2
</th>
<th style="width: 40%">
column 3
</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 20%">
value 1
</td>
<td style="width: 40%">
value 2
</td>
<td style="width: 40%">
value 3
</td>
</tr>
</table>
table { table-layout: fixed; }
.subject { width: 70%; } <table>
<tr>
<th>From</th>
<th class="subject">Subject</th>
<th>Date</th>
</tr>
</table>Depending on your body (or the div which is wrapping your table) 'settings' you should be able to do this:
body {
width: 98%;
}
table {
width: 100%;
}
th {
border: 1px solid black;
}
th.From, th.Date {
width: 15%;
}
th.Date {
width: 70%;
}
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th class="From">From</th>
<th class="Subject">Subject</th>
<th class="Date">Date</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Me</td>
<td>Your question</td>
<td>5/30/2009 2:41:40 AM UTC</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Here's another minimal way to do it in CSS that works even in older browsers that do not support :nth-child and the like selectors: http://jsfiddle.net/3wZWt/.
HTML:
<table>
<tr>
<th>From</th>
<th>Subject</th>
<th>Date</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Dmitriy</td>
<td>Learning CSS</td>
<td>7/5/2014</td>
</tr>
</table>
CSS:
table {
border-collapse: collapse;
width: 100%;
}
tr > * {
border: 1px solid #000;
}
tr > th + th {
width: 70%;
}
tr > th + th + th {
width: 15%;
}
<table>
<col width="130">
<col width="80">
<tr>
<th>Month</th>
<th>Savings</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>January</td>
<td>$100</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>February</td>
<td>$80</td>
</tr>
</table>
Don't use the border attribute, use CSS for all your styling needs.
<table style="border:1px; width:100%;">
<tr>
<th style="width:15%;">From</th>
<th style="width:70%;">Subject</th>
<th style="width:15%;">Date</th>
</tr>
... rest of the table code...
</table>
But embedding CSS like that is poor practice - one should use CSS classes instead, and put the CSS rules in an external CSS file.
style="column-width:300px;white-space: normal;"
