Simple CSS tips to styling a Table

Styling a Tables in CSS is complicated by the fact that there are two different models available:
  • Collapsing borders

  • Seperate borders


  • The Collapsing borders allows one border to appear while the Seperate border allows multiple borders. The Seperate border is the default. Suppose we have the table:

    W3C Membership
    Type America Europe Pacific Total
    Full 62 29 17 108
    Affiliate 240 123 47 410
    Total 302 152 64 518



    If the style sheet is:

    table {border-collapse:seperate; font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:11px;}
    td{border:solid blue 1pt;}
    th{border:solid red 1pt;}



    The result would be:

    TableStyling1

    By changing the styling to:

    table {border-collapse:seperate; font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:11px; border:1px dashed green;}
    td{border:solid blue 1pt;}
    th{border:solid red 1pt;}



    The result becomes:

    TableStyling2

    Now lets apply some other CSS styles:

    table {border-collapse:collapse; background-color:#FFFFFF; font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:11px; border:1px dashed green;}
    td{border:solid blue 1pt;}
    th{border:solid red 1pt;}
    colgroup.a{background-color:#FFFF00;}
    tr.three{background-color:#FFFFFF;}
    col.col1{background-color:navajowhite;}
    col.col2{background-color:navajowhite;}
    col.col3{background-color:navajowhite;}
    col.col4{background-color:navajowhite;}
    col.col5{background-color:navajowhite;}
    tbody.second{background-color:powderblue;}
    colgroup.b{background-color:lime;}
    tr.two{background-color:pink;}
    th.grand{background-color:#FFFF00;}



    Here’s the table that we have to apply above CSS style:

    Type America Europe Pacific Total
    Full 62 29 17 108
    Affiliate 240 123 47 410
    Total 302 152 64 518



    The result would be:

    TableStyling3

    Applying a CSS styles to a table not easy but having a good knowledge of CSS makes it easy.


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