Styling Table Columns with HTML `col`: Efficient and Organized Table Formatting

Learn how to efficiently style entire table columns using the HTML `col` element. This tutorial demonstrates how to apply CSS styles to columns, improving code organization and making table styling more manageable, especially for large tables with complex formatting requirements.

Styling Table Columns with the HTML `<col>` Element

Understanding the `<col>` Element

The HTML `<col>` (column) element is used to apply CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) styles to entire columns in an HTML table. This improves code organization and makes it easier to style your tables consistently, because you don’t need to repeat styles for every cell within a column. It's a convenient way to manage column-specific formatting without modifying individual cells. The `<col>` element is always used within a `<colgroup>` (column group) element.

Using the `<col>` Element

The `<col>` element is placed inside the `<colgroup>` element, which in turn is placed within the `<table>` tag, before any table rows (`<tr>`). The `span` attribute determines how many columns the style applies to. The `style` attribute (or a linked stylesheet) specifies the actual CSS styles to be applied. For example:

<table>
  <colgroup>
    <col style="background-color:lightblue;">
    <col span="2" style="background-color:lightgray;">
  </colgroup>
  <tr>
    <th>Column 1</th>
    <th>Column 2</th>
    <th>Column 3</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Data 1</td>
    <td>Data 2</td>
    <td>Data 3</td>
  </tr>
</table>

This example styles the first column light-blue and the next two columns light-gray.

Browser Support for `<col>`

The `<col>` element is well-supported by all major modern browsers.

Supported CSS Properties

Note that only a limited set of CSS properties are typically applied to `<col>` elements. These primarily affect the column's width, background, border, and visibility. Many other CSS properties will have no effect. For more detailed styling of individual cells, use `` and `` styles.