HTML Tables with CSS Styles

I've put together some common CSS tables styles so that you can quickly copy/paste the code for yourselves. You can modify the styles as you see fit.

They're 5 pretty basic css tables styles that are commonly used by web developers so I made this little mini-resource for quick copy and pasting styles.

I now also have a HTML table generator if you want to very quickly create a custom table and the required HTML and CSS code for it.

Hope this comes in handy.

Five Basic CSS Table Styles (Two Using Javascript)

Here is the code for a:

Basic CSS styled table
CSS table style with background images
HTML table styled using CSS gradients
Table with alternating row colors
CSS table with row highlight on hover

1. CSS Table with One Pixel Borders

First up is the collapsed border table that has the solid line borders making this the basis for most popular table styles.

The code includes the CSS which you can add to your stylesheet and please note a class has been added to the table tag.

Info Header 1	Info Header 2	Info Header 3
Text 1A	Text 1B	Text 1C
Text 2A	Text 2B	Text 2C

Copy/Paste Code for CSS Table with One Pixel Borders

<!-- CSS goes in the document HEAD or added to your external stylesheet -->
<style type="text/css">
table.gridtable {
	font-family: verdana,arial,sans-serif;
	font-size:11px;
	color:#333333;
	border-width: 1px;
	border-color: #666666;
	border-collapse: collapse;
}
table.gridtable th {
	border-width: 1px;
	padding: 8px;
	border-style: solid;
	border-color: #666666;
	background-color: #dedede;
}
table.gridtable td {
	border-width: 1px;
	padding: 8px;
	border-style: solid;
	border-color: #666666;
	background-color: #ffffff;
}
</style>
<!-- Table goes in the document BODY -->
<table class="gridtable">
<tr>
	<th>Info Header 1</th><th>Info Header 2</th><th>Info Header 3</th>
</tr>
<tr>
	<td>Text 1A</td><td>Text 1B</td><td>Text 1C</td>
</tr>
<tr>
	<td>Text 2A</td><td>Text 2B</td><td>Text 2C</td>
</tr>
</table>

2. CSS Table with Background Images

This image approach is a little old school but it may still come in handy once in a while. If you're looking for a more modern approach, then check out the CSS Table Gradient example below.

This table is similar to the one above except it uses background images which allows the table cells to have a subtle color gradation in them. The images also have a one pixel white line on the left and top which gives the cells a slight 3D effect.

You'll probably have to make two small changes to the CSS to reflect where the table images live on your server other than that it's fairly straightforward.

Info Header 1	Info Header 2	Info Header 3
Text 1A	Text 1B	Text 1C
Text 2A	Text 2B	Text 2C

Step 1. Download a zip of the table images (code included) or right click and save these two images to your desktop: cell-blue.jpg and cell-grey.jpg

Step 2. Copy the code in the box below. Remember to change the css image location. The table tag requires a class.

<!-- CSS goes in the document HEAD or added to your external stylesheet -->
<style type="text/css">
table.imagetable {
	font-family: verdana,arial,sans-serif;
	font-size:11px;
	color:#333333;
	border-width: 1px;
	border-color: #999999;
	border-collapse: collapse;
}
table.imagetable th {
	background:#b5cfd2 url('cell-blue.jpg');
	border-width: 1px;
	padding: 8px;
	border-style: solid;
	border-color: #999999;
}
table.imagetable td {
	background:#dcddc0 url('cell-grey.jpg');
	border-width: 1px;
	padding: 8px;
	border-style: solid;
	border-color: #999999;
}
</style>
<!-- Table goes in the document BODY -->
<table class="imagetable">
<tr>
	<th>Info Header 1</th><th>Info Header 2</th><th>Info Header 3</th>
</tr>
<tr>
	<td>Text 1A</td><td>Text 1B</td><td>Text 1C</td>
</tr>
<tr>
	<td>Text 2A</td><td>Text 2B</td><td>Text 2C</td>
</tr>
</table>

3. HTML Table using CSS Gradients

This one is a more modern version of the image one - it uses CSS gradients to achieve the bevelled look of the image table example. It's a completely image free table rendering.

This code will display correctly across all modern browsers even Internet Explorer 9. It's not pixel perfect in Internet Explorer 7 or 8 but it's a good enough rendering and doesn't impare legibility.

Copy/Paste Code for CSS Gradient Table

<!-- This goes in the document HEAD so IE7 and IE8 don't cry -->
	<!--[if lt IE 9]>
	<style type="text/css">
		table.gradienttable th {
			filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient( startColorstr='#d5e3e4', endColorstr='#b3c8cc',GradientType=0 );
			position: relative;
			z-index: -1;
		}
		table.gradienttable td {
			filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient( startColorstr='#ebecda', endColorstr='#ceceb7',GradientType=0 );
			position: relative;
			z-index: -1;
		}
	</style>
	<![endif]-->

<!-- CSS goes in the document HEAD or added to your external stylesheet -->
<style type="text/css">
table.gradienttable {
	font-family: verdana,arial,sans-serif;
	font-size:11px;
	color:#333333;
	border-width: 1px;
	border-color: #999999;
	border-collapse: collapse;
}
table.gradienttable th {
	padding: 0px;
	background: #d5e3e4;
	background: url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,PD94bWwgdmVyc2lvbj0iMS4wIiA/Pgo8c3ZnIHhtbG5zPSJodHRwOi8vd3d3LnczLm9yZy8yMDAwL3N2ZyIgd2lkdGg9IjEwMCUiIGhlaWdodD0iMTAwJSIgdmlld0JveD0iMCAwIDEgMSIgcHJlc2VydmVBc3BlY3RSYXRpbz0ibm9uZSI+CiAgPGxpbmVhckdyYWRpZW50IGlkPSJncmFkLXVjZ2ctZ2VuZXJhdGVkIiBncmFkaWVudFVuaXRzPSJ1c2VyU3BhY2VPblVzZSIgeDE9IjAlIiB5MT0iMCUiIHgyPSIwJSIgeTI9IjEwMCUiPgogICAgPHN0b3Agb2Zmc2V0PSIwJSIgc3RvcC1jb2xvcj0iI2Q1ZTNlNCIgc3RvcC1vcGFjaXR5PSIxIi8+CiAgICA8c3RvcCBvZmZzZXQ9IjQwJSIgc3RvcC1jb2xvcj0iI2NjZGVlMCIgc3RvcC1vcGFjaXR5PSIxIi8+CiAgICA8c3RvcCBvZmZzZXQ9IjEwMCUiIHN0b3AtY29sb3I9IiNiM2M4Y2MiIHN0b3Atb3BhY2l0eT0iMSIvPgogIDwvbGluZWFyR3JhZGllbnQ+CiAgPHJlY3QgeD0iMCIgeT0iMCIgd2lkdGg9IjEiIGhlaWdodD0iMSIgZmlsbD0idXJsKCNncmFkLXVjZ2ctZ2VuZXJhdGVkKSIgLz4KPC9zdmc+);
	background: -moz-linear-gradient(top,  #d5e3e4 0%, #ccdee0 40%, #b3c8cc 100%);
	background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, color-stop(0%,#d5e3e4), color-stop(40%,#ccdee0), color-stop(100%,#b3c8cc));
	background: -webkit-linear-gradient(top,  #d5e3e4 0%,#ccdee0 40%,#b3c8cc 100%);
	background: -o-linear-gradient(top,  #d5e3e4 0%,#ccdee0 40%,#b3c8cc 100%);
	background: -ms-linear-gradient(top,  #d5e3e4 0%,#ccdee0 40%,#b3c8cc 100%);
	background: linear-gradient(to bottom,  #d5e3e4 0%,#ccdee0 40%,#b3c8cc 100%);
	border: 1px solid #999999;
}
table.gradienttable td {
	padding: 0px;
	background: #ebecda;
	background: url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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);
	background: -moz-linear-gradient(top,  #ebecda 0%, #e0e0c6 40%, #ceceb7 100%);
	background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, color-stop(0%,#ebecda), color-stop(40%,#e0e0c6), color-stop(100%,#ceceb7));
	background: -webkit-linear-gradient(top,  #ebecda 0%,#e0e0c6 40%,#ceceb7 100%);
	background: -o-linear-gradient(top,  #ebecda 0%,#e0e0c6 40%,#ceceb7 100%);
	background: -ms-linear-gradient(top,  #ebecda 0%,#e0e0c6 40%,#ceceb7 100%);
	background: linear-gradient(to bottom,  #ebecda 0%,#e0e0c6 40%,#ceceb7 100%);
	border: 1px solid #999999;
}
table.gradienttable th p{
	margin:0px;
	padding:8px;
	border-top: 1px solid #eefafc;
	border-bottom:0px;
	border-left: 1px solid #eefafc;
	border-right:0px;
}
table.gradienttable td p{
	margin:0px;
	padding:8px;
	border-top: 1px solid #fcfdec;
	border-bottom:0px;
	border-left: 1px solid #fcfdec;;
	border-right:0px;
}
</style>

<!-- Table goes in the document BODY -->
<table class="gradienttable">
<tr>
	<th><p>Info Header 1</p></th><th><p>Info Header 2</p></th><th><p>Info Header 3</p></th>
</tr>
<tr>
	<td><p>Text 1A</p></td><td><p>Text 1B</p></td><td><p>Text 1C</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
	<td><p>Text 2A</p></td><td><p>Text 2B</p></td><td><p>Text 2C</p></td>
</tr>
</table>

<!-- TIP: Generate your own CSS Gradients using this tool: http://www.colorzilla.com/gradient-editor/ -->

4. CSS Table with Automatically Alternating Rows (Requires Javascript)

This CSS table uses Javascript to automatically alternate row colors. This is especially great if you have a large table that gets updated frequently.

You can now also achieve this effect in CSS for all the modern browsers. Learn more about using CSS to make a table with alternating rows.

Info Header 1	Info Header 2	Info Header 3
Text 1A	Text 1B	Text 1C
Text 2A	Text 2B	Text 2C
Text 3A	Text 3B	Text 3C
Text 4A	Text 4B	Text 4C
Text 5A	Text 5B	Text 5C

Instructions

<!-- Javascript goes in the document HEAD -->
<script type="text/javascript">
function altRows(id){
	if(document.getElementsByTagName){  
		
		var table = document.getElementById(id);  
		var rows = table.getElementsByTagName("tr"); 
		 
		for(i = 0; i < rows.length; i++){          
			if(i % 2 == 0){
				rows[i].className = "evenrowcolor";
			}else{
				rows[i].className = "oddrowcolor";
			}      
		}
	}
}
window.onload=function(){
	altRows('alternatecolor');
}
</script>

<!-- CSS goes in the document HEAD or added to your external stylesheet -->
<style type="text/css">
table.altrowstable {
	font-family: verdana,arial,sans-serif;
	font-size:11px;
	color:#333333;
	border-width: 1px;
	border-color: #a9c6c9;
	border-collapse: collapse;
}
table.altrowstable th {
	border-width: 1px;
	padding: 8px;
	border-style: solid;
	border-color: #a9c6c9;
}
table.altrowstable td {
	border-width: 1px;
	padding: 8px;
	border-style: solid;
	border-color: #a9c6c9;
}
.oddrowcolor{
	background-color:#d4e3e5;
}
.evenrowcolor{
	background-color:#c3dde0;
}
</style>

<!-- Table goes in the document BODY -->
<table class="altrowstable" id="alternatecolor">
<tr>
	<th>Info Header 1</th><th>Info Header 2</th><th>Info Header 3</th>
</tr>
<tr>
	<td>Text 1A</td><td>Text 1B</td><td>Text 1C</td>
</tr>
<tr>
	<td>Text 2A</td><td>Text 2B</td><td>Text 2C</td>
</tr>
</tr>
<tr>
	<td>Text 3A</td><td>Text 3B</td><td>Text 3C</td>
</tr>
<tr>
	<td>Text 4A</td><td>Text 4B</td><td>Text 4C</td>
</tr>
<tr>
	<td>Text 5A</td><td>Text 5B</td><td>Text 5C</td>
</tr>
</table>
<!--  The table code can be found here: http://www.textfixer/tutorials/css-tables.php#css-table03 -->

5. CSS Table with Highlight Row on Hover (Requires Javascript)

Nowadays I just use CSS for this so you should probably go read about how to highlight a table row using CSS.

Otherwise the code below highlights a table row using Javascript which I wouldn't advise you to normally use unless you either must provide support for IE6 (in which case you have my sympathy) or you have to work on a web page without a doctype. HTML pages created without doctypes will prevent a pure CSS solution for table row highlighting from working on all versions of Internet Explorer.

But seriously, go check out the CSS hover solution first - it's a much better method.

Info Header 1	Info Header 2	Info Header 3
Item 1A	Item 1B	Item 1C
Item 2A	Item 2B	Item 2C
Item 3A	Item 3B	Item 3C
Item 4A	Item 4B	Item 4C
Item 5A	Item 5B	Item 5C

One thing to note is you should make sure not to define the background color of a table cell in your stylesheet as that'll stop the row highlight code from working properly.

<!-- CSS goes in the document HEAD or added to your external stylesheet -->
<style type="text/css">
table.hovertable {
	font-family: verdana,arial,sans-serif;
	font-size:11px;
	color:#333333;
	border-width: 1px;
	border-color: #999999;
	border-collapse: collapse;
}
table.hovertable th {
	background-color:#c3dde0;
	border-width: 1px;
	padding: 8px;
	border-style: solid;
	border-color: #a9c6c9;
}
table.hovertable tr {
	background-color:#d4e3e5;
}
table.hovertable td {
	border-width: 1px;
	padding: 8px;
	border-style: solid;
	border-color: #a9c6c9;
}
</style>
<!-- Table goes in the document BODY -->
<table class="hovertable">
<tr>
	<th>Info Header 1</th><th>Info Header 2</th><th>Info Header 3</th>
</tr>
<tr onmouseover="this.style.backgroundColor='#ffff66';" onmouseout="this.style.backgroundColor='#d4e3e5';">
	<td>Item 1A</td><td>Item 1B</td><td>Item 1C</td>
</tr>
<tr onmouseover="this.style.backgroundColor='#ffff66';" onmouseout="this.style.backgroundColor='#d4e3e5';">
	<td>Item 2A</td><td>Item 2B</td><td>Item 2C</td>
</tr>
<tr onmouseover="this.style.backgroundColor='#ffff66';" onmouseout="this.style.backgroundColor='#d4e3e5';">
	<td>Item 3A</td><td>Item 3B</td><td>Item 3C</td>
</tr>
<tr onmouseover="this.style.backgroundColor='#ffff66';" onmouseout="this.style.backgroundColor='#d4e3e5';">
	<td>Item 4A</td><td>Item 4B</td><td>Item 4C</td>
</tr>
<tr onmouseover="this.style.backgroundColor='#ffff66';" onmouseout="this.style.backgroundColor='#d4e3e5';">
	<td>Item 5A</td><td>Item 5B</td><td>Item 5C</td>
</tr>
</table>

These 5 table styles are variants of the five most common types of tables that I usually have to create so hopefully you'll find them helpful.

HTML Tables with CSS Styles

Five Basic CSS Table Styles (Two Using Javascript)

1. CSS Table with One Pixel Borders

2. CSS Table with Background Images

3. HTML Table using CSS Gradients

4. CSS Table with Automatically Alternating Rows (Requires Javascript)

5. CSS Table with Highlight Row on Hover (Requires Javascript)

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