Instead, the width of each column is determined as follows:

With the fixed table layout algorithm, the widths of columns and of the table are not governed by the contents of the table’s cells. In the case of block-level tables (when display is set to table), user agents are allowed to use the fixed table layout algorithm anyway, but they aren’t required to. If the table’s width is specified as auto, the automatic table layout algorithm is normally used. These are specified with the table-layout property (which takes values of fixed, for fixed layouts, and auto, for automatic layouts) its initial value is auto. There are two very different algorithms for determining the widths of table columns: the fixed table layout algorithm and the automatic table layout algorithm. A table can be horizontally centered by setting margin-left and margin-right to auto, though. Instead, the table size will be determined by its contents. Unlike other block boxes, a table with zero horizontal margins and a width property that’s set to auto doesn’t size to fill its containing block.

If a child of a row object is not a cell, a cell object will be.

Generated as the parent of that child and any consecutive siblings that

If a child of a row group object isn’t a row, a row object will be.

That child, and any consecutive siblings that require a row as their Group, row, or column, a row object will be generated as the parent of

If a child of a table object is not a caption, row group, column.

Types that don’t have the required parent. Generated as the parent of one or more consecutive objects of those Groups must have a table as their parent. Have a column group or a table as their parent.

Rows must have a row group or a table as their parent.

Generated as the parent of one or more consecutive cells that don’t have

Cells must have a row as their parent.

Here, we’ve listed situations in which anonymous table-related elements may be created: When table-related display values are used for non-table elements, anonymous table-related elements may have to be generated in order to render the elements correctly. These display values can also be specified for other element types than those that belong to the HTML table model however, Internet Explorer versions up to and including 7 don’t support these values. Table display Property Values Element Type These values, and the HTML element types with which they’re associated by default, are shown in the below table. Ten of the valid values for the display property denote table-related formatting styles. Cells can also have padding, but internal table objects don’t have margins. The internal elements of tables-row groups, column groups, rows, columns, and cells-generate regular boxes that can have borders. The valid values in CSS2.1 are top and bottom, which should be fairly self-explanatory. The placement of the caption can be controlled via the caption-side property. If a run-in element precedes the table, it will not run into a caption box.

A caption is formatted as a block box, but it doesn’t behave like general block boxes in all respects. When a table is repositioned, it’s the outer anonymous box that’s moved to enable the caption to follow the table.Ĭaptions inherit inheritable properties from the table. The caption box is rendered outside the table box, but is inextricably tied to it. It can have padding, borders, and margins.Ī table element generates an anonymous box that encompasses the table box and the caption box (if they’re present). Columns and column groups are more esoteric items that are derived from the set of cells in all rows of the table.Ī table can be included in a formatting context as either a block-level or inline-level box. Although you can specify columns and column groups in markup, cells are structurally contained within rows. Tables are rendered as layers in a specified order from the bottom up: table, column groups, columns, row groups, rows, and cells. A row group contains rows, while a column group contains columns.

A table may contain a caption, row groups, and column groups.

Table formatting in word