Set cellpadding and cellspacing in CSS?
HtmlCssHtml TableAlignmentHtml Problem Overview
In an HTML table, the cellpadding
and cellspacing
can be set like this:
<table cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1">
How can the same be accomplished using CSS?
Html Solutions
Solution 1 - Html
Basics
For controlling "cellpadding" in CSS, you can simply use padding
on table cells. E.g. for 10px of "cellpadding":
td {
padding: 10px;
}
For "cellspacing", you can apply the border-spacing
CSS property to your table. E.g. for 10px of "cellspacing":
table {
border-spacing: 10px;
border-collapse: separate;
}
This property will even allow separate horizontal and vertical spacing, something you couldn't do with old-school "cellspacing".
Issues in IE ≤ 7
This will work in almost all popular browsers except for Internet Explorer up through Internet Explorer 7, where you're almost out of luck. I say "almost" because these browsers still support the border-collapse
property, which merges the borders of adjoining table cells. If you're trying to eliminate cellspacing (that is, cellspacing="0"
) then border-collapse:collapse
should have the same effect: no space between table cells. This support is buggy, though, as it does not override an existing cellspacing
HTML attribute on the table element.
In short: for non-Internet Explorer 5-7 browsers, border-spacing
handles you. For Internet Explorer, if your situation is just right (you want 0 cellspacing and your table doesn't have it defined already), you can use border-collapse:collapse
.
table {
border-spacing: 0;
border-collapse: collapse;
}
Note: For a great overview of CSS properties that one can apply to tables and for which browsers, see this fantastic Quirksmode page.
Solution 2 - Html
Default
The default behavior of the browser is equivalent to:
table {border-collapse: collapse;}
td {padding: 0px;}
Cellpadding
Sets the amount of space between the contents of the cell and the cell wall
table {border-collapse: collapse;}
td {padding: 6px;}
Cellspacing
Controls the space between table cells
table {border-spacing: 2px;}
td {padding: 0px;}
Both
table {border-spacing: 2px;}
td {padding: 6px;}
Both (special)
table {border-spacing: 8px 2px;}
td {padding: 6px;}
> Note: If there is border-spacing
set, it indicates border-collapse
property of the table is separate
.
Here you can find the old HTML way of achieving this.
Solution 3 - Html
table
{
border-collapse: collapse; /* 'cellspacing' equivalent */
}
table td, table th
{
padding: 0; /* 'cellpadding' equivalent */
}
Solution 4 - Html
Setting margins on table cells doesn't really have any effect as far as I know. The true CSS equivalent for cellspacing
is border-spacing
- but it doesn't work in Internet Explorer.
You can use border-collapse: collapse
to reliably set cell spacing to 0 as mentioned, but for any other value I think the only cross-browser way is to keep using the cellspacing
attribute.
Solution 5 - Html
This hack works for Internet Explorer 6 and later, Google Chrome, Firefox, and Opera:
table {
border-collapse: separate;
border-spacing: 10px; /* cellspacing */
*border-collapse: expression('separate', cellSpacing = '10px');
}
table td, table th {
padding: 10px; /* cellpadding */
}
The *
declaration is for Internet Explorer 6 and 7, and other browsers will properly ignore it.
expression('separate', cellSpacing = '10px')
returns 'separate'
, but both statements are run, as in JavaScript you can pass more arguments than expected and all of them will be evaluated.
Solution 6 - Html
For those who want a non-zero cellspacing value, the following CSS worked for me, but I'm only able to test it in Firefox.
See the Quirksmode link posted elsewhere for compatibility details. It seems it may not work with older Internet Explorer versions.
table {
border-collapse: separate;
border-spacing: 2px;
}
Solution 7 - Html
The simple solution to this problem is:
table
{
border: 1px solid #000000;
border-collapse: collapse;
border-spacing: 0px;
}
table td
{
padding: 8px 8px;
}
Solution 8 - Html
Also, if you want cellspacing="0"
, don't forget to add border-collapse: collapse
in your table
's stylesheet.
Solution 9 - Html
Wrap the contents of the cell with a div and you can do anything you want, but you have to wrap every cell in a column to get a uniform effect. For example, to just get wider left & right margins:
So the CSS will be,
div.cellwidener {
margin: 0px 15px 0px 15px;
}
td.tight {
padding: 0px;
}
<table border="0">
<tr>
<td class="tight">
<div class="cellwidener">My content</div>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
Yes, it's a hassle. Yes, it works with Internet Explorer. In fact, I've only tested this with Internet Explorer, because that's all we're allowed to use at work.
Solution 10 - Html
Just use border-collapse: collapse
for your table, and padding
for th
or td
.
Solution 11 - Html
This style is for full reset for tables - cellpadding, cellspacing and borders.
I had this style in my reset.css file:
table{
border:0; /* Replace border */
border-spacing: 0px; /* Replace cellspacing */
border-collapse: collapse; /* Patch for Internet Explorer 6 and Internet Explorer 7 */
}
table td{
padding: 0px; /* Replace cellpadding */
}
Solution 12 - Html
TBH. For all the fannying around with CSS you might as well just use cellpadding="0"
cellspacing="0"
since they are not deprecated...
Anyone else suggesting margins on <td>
's obviously has not tried this.
Solution 13 - Html
table th,td {
padding: 8px 2px;
}
table {
border-collapse: separate;
border-spacing: 2px;
}
Solution 14 - Html
Simply use CSS padding rules with table data:
td {
padding: 20px;
}
And for border spacing:
table {
border-spacing: 1px;
border-collapse: collapse;
}
However, it can create problems in older version of browsers like Internet Explorer because of the diff implementation of the box model.
Solution 15 - Html
From what I understand from the W3C classifications is that <table>
s are meant for displaying data 'only'.
Based on that I found it a lot easier to create a <div>
with the backgrounds and all that and have a table with data floating over it using position: absolute;
and background: transparent;
...
It works on Chrome, Internet Explorer (6 and later) and Mozilla Firefox (2 and later).
Margins are used (or meant anyways) to create a spacer between container elements, like <table>
, <div>
and <form>
, not <tr>
, <td>
, <span>
or <input>
. Using it for anything other than container elements will keep you busy adjusting your website for future browser updates.
Solution 16 - Html
CSS:
selector{
padding:0 0 10px 0; // Top left bottom right
}
Solution 17 - Html
You can easily set padding inside the table cells using the CSS padding property. It is a valid way to produce the same effect as the table's cellpadding attribute.
table,
th,
td {
border: 1px solid #666;
}
table th,
table td {
padding: 10px;
/* Apply cell padding */
}
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<title>Set Cellpadding in CSS</title>
</head>
<body>
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Row</th>
<th>First Name</th>
<th>Last Name</th>
<th>Email</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>1</td>
<td>Clark</td>
<td>Kent</td>
<td>[email protected]</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2</td>
<td>Peter</td>
<td>Parker</td>
<td>[email protected]</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>3</td>
<td>John</td>
<td>Rambo</td>
<td>[email protected]</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</body>
</html>
Similarly, you can use the CSS border-spacing property to apply the spacing between adjacent table cell borders like the cellspacing attribute. However, in order to work border-spacing the value of border-collapse property muse be separate, which is default.
table {
border-collapse: separate;
border-spacing: 10px;
/* Apply cell spacing */
}
table,
th,
td {
border: 1px solid #666;
}
table th,
table td {
padding: 5px;
/* Apply cell padding */
}
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<title>Set Cellspacing in CSS</title>
</head>
<body>
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Row</th>
<th>First Name</th>
<th>Last Name</th>
<th>Email</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>1</td>
<td>Clark</td>
<td>Kent</td>
<td>[email protected]</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2</td>
<td>Peter</td>
<td>Parker</td>
<td>[email protected]</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>3</td>
<td>John</td>
<td>Rambo</td>
<td>[email protected]</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</body>
</html>
Solution 18 - Html
Try this:
table {
border-collapse: separate;
border-spacing: 10px;
}
table td, table th {
padding: 10px;
}
Or try this:
table {
border-collapse: collapse;
}
table td, table th {
padding: 10px;
}
Solution 19 - Html
I used !important
after the border-collapse like
border-collapse: collapse !important;
and it works for me in IE7. It seems to override the cellspacing attribute.
Solution 20 - Html
<table>
<tr>
<th>Col 1</th>
<th>Col 2</th>
<th>Col 3</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>1</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>3</td>
</tr>
</table>
cell-padding
can be given by padding
in CSS while cell-spacing
can be set by setting border-spacing
for table.
table {
border-spacing: 10px;
}
td {
padding: 10px;
}
Solution 21 - Html
td {
padding: npx; /* For cellpadding */
margin: npx; /* For cellspacing */
border-collapse: collapse; /* For showing borders in a better shape. */
}
If margin
didn't work, try to set display
of tr
to block
and then margin will work.
Solution 22 - Html
For tables, cellspacing and cellpadding are obsolete in HTML 5.
Now for cellspacing you have to use border-spacing. And for cellpadding you have to use border-collapse.
And make sure you don't use this in your HTML5 code. Always try to use these values in a CSS 3 file.
Solution 23 - Html
table {
border-spacing: 4px;
color: #000;
background: #ccc;
}
td {
padding-left: 4px;
}
Solution 24 - Html
In an HTML table, the cellpadding
and cellspacing
can be set like this:
For cell-padding:
Just call simple td/th
cell padding
.
Example:
/******Call-Padding**********/
table {
border-collapse: collapse;
}
td {
border: 1px solid red;
padding: 10px;
}
<table>
<tr>
<th>Head1 </th>
<th>Head2 </th>
<th>Head3 </th>
<th>Head4 </th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>11</td>
<td>12</td>
<td>13</td>
<td>14</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>21</td>
<td>22</td>
<td>23</td>
<td>24</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>31</td>
<td>32</td>
<td>33</td>
<td>34</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>41</td>
<td>42</td>
<td>43</td>
<td>44</td>
</tr>
</table>
table {
border-collapse: collapse;
}
td {
border: 1px solid red;
padding: 10px;
}
For cell-spacing
Just call simple table
border-spacing
Example:
/********* Cell-Spacing ********/
table {
border-spacing: 10px;
border-collapse: separate;
}
td {
border: 1px solid red;
}
<table>
<tr>
<th>Head1</th>
<th>Head2</th>
<th>Head3</th>
<th>Head4</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>11</td>
<td>12</td>
<td>13</td>
<td>14</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>21</td>
<td>22</td>
<td>23</td>
<td>24</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>31</td>
<td>32</td>
<td>33</td>
<td>34</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>41</td>
<td>42</td>
<td>43</td>
<td>44</td>
</tr>
</table>
/********* Cell-Spacing ********/
table {
border-spacing: 10px;
border-collapse: separate;
}
td {
border: 1px solid red;
}
More table style by CSS source link here you get more table style by CSS.
Solution 25 - Html
Say that we want to assign a 10px "cellpadding" and a 15px "cellspacing" to our table, in a HTML5-compliant way. I will show here two methods giving really similar outputs.
Two different sets of CSS properties apply to the same HTML markup for the table, but with opposite concepts:
-
the first one uses the default value for
border-collapse
(separate
) and usesborder-spacing
to provide the cellspacing, -
the second one switches
border-collapse
tocollapse
and uses theborder
property as the cellspacing.
In both cases, the cellpadding is achieved by assigning padding:10px
to the td
s and, in both cases, the background-color
assigned to them is only for the sake of a clearer demo.
First method:
table{border-spacing:15px}
td{background-color:#00eb55;padding:10px;border:0}
<table>
<tr>
<td>Header 1</td><td>Header 2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>1</td><td>2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>3</td><td>4</td>
</tr>
</table>
Second method:
table{border-collapse:collapse}
td{background-color:#00eb55;padding:10px;border:15px solid #fff}
<table>
<tr>
<td>Header 1</td><td>Header 2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>1</td><td>2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>3</td><td>4</td>
</tr>
</table>
Solution 26 - Html
You can simply do something like this in your CSS, using border-spacing
and padding
:
table {
border-collapse: collapse;
}
td, th {
padding: 1em;
border: 1px solid blue;
}
<table>
<tr>
<th>head_1</th>
<th>head_2</th>
<th>head_3</th>
<th>head_4</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>txt_1</td>
<td>txt_2</td>
<td>txt_3</td>
<td>txt_4</td>
</tr>
</table>
Solution 27 - Html
You can check the below code just create a index.html
and run it.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
table {
border-spacing: 10px;
}
td {
padding: 10px;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<th>Col 1</th>
<th>Col 2</th>
<th>Col 3</th>
<tr>
<td>1</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>3</td>
</tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>
OUTPUT :
Solution 28 - Html
How about adding the style directly to the table itself? This is instead of using table
in your CSS, which is a BAD approach if you have multiple tables on your page:
<table style="border-collapse: separate;border-spacing: 2px;">
<tr>
<td style="padding: 4px 4px;">Some Text</td>
</tr>
</table>
Solution 29 - Html
I suggest this and all the cells for the particular table are effected.
table.tbl_classname td, th {
padding: 5px 5px 5px 4px;
}
Solution 30 - Html
This worked for me:
table {border-collapse: collapse}
table th, table td {padding: 0}