colgroup (HTML element)
| Depr. | Empty | Version |
|---|---|---|
| No | No | HTML 4 |
| IE5.5+ | FF1+ | Saf1.3+ | Op9.2+ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full | Full | Full | Full |
Example
This
colgroup element is used to set a
class for first three columns (which can then be
styled with CSS):
<table border="1">
<colgroup class="vivid">
<col/>
<col/>
<col/>
</colgroup>
<colgroup>
<col/>
</colgroup>
<tr>
<th colspan="4">Work Contact Points</th>
</tr>
⋮
</table>
- Type
- table element
- Contains
col- Contained by
table
Description
The
colgroup is a container for a number of
col elements, and allows you to set attributes that you
might otherwise set at col level on a number of
col elements simultaneously—the attributes defined at
this higher level apply to all of the child columns. It is important to
note that if you use one or more colgroup then all
cols must be enclosed in one or more
colgroups
Use This For …
This element is used to apply styles (either using HTML attributes or via CSS) to a number of columns simultaneously.
Compatibility
| IE | 5.5 | Full |
|---|---|---|
| 6.0 | Full | |
| 7.0 | Full | |
| Firefox | 1.0 | Full |
| 1.5 | Full | |
| 2.0 | Full | |
| Safari | 1.3 | Full |
| 2.0 | Full | |
| 3.0 | Full | |
| Opera | 9.2 | Full |
| 9.5 | Full |
This element has reasonable support, though the breadth of support depends heavily on which attributes are applied. Attribute support varies between browsers (it would be so much easier if all browsers tested, supported, and ignored the same set of attributes, but unfortunately, this is not the case).
A
better approach is to apply class names to the
respective colgroup elements, then let CSS styling take
care of alignment, colors, widths, and so on.
In this Section
- align
aligns text in cells that are related to thecolgroupelement - char
sets the character to which cell contents should align - charoff
defines the number of characters by which cell contents will be offset from thechar - span
sets the number ofcolelements to which thespanapplies - valign
sets the vertical alignment of text in table cells - width
sets the width of the entire column group
Related Reading
User-contributed notes
- ID:
- #2
- Date:
- Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:10:41 GMT
To my knowledge, support for this element (and the col element) is virtually non-existant in WebKit (Safari).
And the last time I looked, the most useful attribute, width with values of "*" and "0*", was only properly support in Firefox.
The compatibility table should really be corrected!
Add a note
To post a note on this topic, please log in with your SitePoint username and password. If you don't have an account yet, you can create a new account for free.
