Flash cards
Review the key moves
What is the main idea behind HTML Table Headers?
Lesson checks
Practice each idea before moving on
Short Mimo-style checks built from this lesson's code, terms, and sequence.
Which statement best captures the main point of this lesson?
Complete the missing token from the example code.
<th>___</th>Put the learning moves in the order that makes the concept easiest to apply.
HTML tables can have headers for each column or row, or for many columns/rows.
| EMIL | TOBIAS | LINUS |
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| 8:00 |
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| 9:00 |
| 10:00 |
| 11:00 |
| 12:00 |
| 13:00 |
| MON | TUE | WED | THU | FRI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8:00 | ||||
| 9:00 | ||||
| 10:00 | ||||
| 11:00 | ||||
| 12:00 |
| DECEMBER |
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HTML Table Headers
Table headers are defined with th elements. Each th element represents a table cell.
Example
<table>
<tr>
<th>Firstname</th>
<th>Lastname</th>
<th>Age</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Jill</td>
<td>Smith</td>
<td>50</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Eve</td>
<td>Jackson</td>
<td>94</td>
</tr>
</table>Live preview
Vertical Table Headers
To use the first column as table headers, define the first cell in each row as a <th> element:
Example
<table>
<tr>
<th>Firstname</th>
<td>Jill</td>
<td>Eve</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Lastname</th>
<td>Smith</td>
<td>Jackson</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Age</th>
<td>94</td>
<td>50</td>
</tr>
</table>Live preview
Align Table Headers
By default, table headers are bold and centered:
| Firstname | Lastname | Age |
|---|---|---|
| Jill | Smith | 50 |
| Eve | Jackson | 94 |
To left-align the table headers, use the CSS text-align property:
th {
text-align: left;
}Header for Multiple Columns
You can have a header that spans over two or more columns.
| Name | Age | |
|---|---|---|
| Jill | Smith | 50 |
| Eve | Jackson | 94 |
To do this, use the colspan attribute on the <th> element:
Example
<table>
<tr>
<th colspan="2">Name</th>
<th>Age</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Jill</td>
<td>Smith</td>
<td>50</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Eve</td>
<td>Jackson</td>
<td>94</td>
</tr>
</table>Live preview
You will learn more about colspan and rowspan in the Table colspan & rowspan chapter.
Table Caption
You can add a caption that serves as a heading for the entire table.
| Month | Savings |
|---|
To add a caption to a table, use the <caption> tag:
Example
<table style="width:100%">
<caption>Monthly savings</caption>
<tr>
<th>Month</th>
<th>Savings</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>January</td>
<td>$100</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>February</td>
<td>$50</td>
</tr>
</table>Live preview
Note
The <caption> tag should be inserted immediately after the <table> tag.