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.
<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>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.
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>
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>
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.