html - TD column width value not working with fixed table-layout

Question

I have following table structure:

<table class="tableStyle">
<tr>
    <td width="20px">col1</td>
    <td width="50px">col2</td>
    <td width="50px">col3</td>
    <td width="15px">col4</td>
    <td width="25px">col5</td>
    <td width="20px">col6</td>
    <td width="20px">col7</td>
    <td width="20px">col8</td>
</tr>
</table>

CSS class definition is:

.tableStyle{
table-layout:fixed;
margin: 0 auto; width: 960px;
}

The problem is that all columns are displaying with equal width despite the fact that i am explicitly defining each column width.

Why are above width values are not working? Any suggestion to make it work with fixed table layout?

Answer 1

The "archaic" width attribute does not take a unit, it expects something like width="20".

However, the "most correct" way to define a table is like so:

<table>
    <colgroup>
        <col style="width:20px" />
        <col style="width:50px" span="2" />
        <col style="width:15px" />
        <col style="width:25px" />
        <col style="width:20px" span="3" />
    </colgroup>
    <tbody>
        <tr>
            <td>col1</td>
            <td>col2</td>
            <td>col3</td>
            <td>col4</td>
            <td>col5</td>
            <td>col6</td>
            <td>col7</td>
            <td>col8</td>
        </tr>
    </tbody>
</table>

This works especially well for large tables, because the browser only needs to read the <colgroup> element to know exactly how the entire table should be laid out, without needing to calculate widths based on individual cell styles.