Tables: column width, alignment and merging cells

Mostly, tables should be left-aligned because we read left-to-right. However, tables of financial figures should have the columns with numerals set to right-aligned.

To set alignment, you need to go into the source code and edit the HTML. The code options you need to copy in are:

• align="left"

• align="right"

• align="center" (note the US spelling)

• align="justify"

Remember to add a space between th or td and the alignment code snippet, so it looks like this: <th align="right">

How to add the code

Click the Source button.

You'll see some code like this:

<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Year</th>
<th>Total amount ($)</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>2019</td>
<td>23,100</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2020</td>
<td>19,870</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2021</td>
<td>21,100</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

The heading cells are coded with <th>.

The rest of the cells are coded <td>.

To set right-alignment for the second column in the example, you need to add the code snippet into the <th> and all the corresponding <td> tags.

Here's an example, using the code above with the alignment snipped added:

<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Year</th>
<th align="right">Total amount ($)</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>2019</td>
<td align="right">23,100</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2020</td>
<td align="right">19,870</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2021</td>
<td align="right">21,100</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

Here's how the table will display with right alignment set on the second column.

You can set column width in just the heading row and that instruction will control the whole column. (This is different to alignment, which you have to set up in every cell.)

Why you might want to set column width

One reason you might want to do this when you have a page with several similar tables and, due to varying lengths of content, they are displaying with varying column widths. In this case, setting the width of just the first column should make the page content look better.

How to manually set column width

Width is controlled by our CSS (a style sheet that controls how the web pages look).

In the CSS for vic.gov.au we have pre-set 12 fixed widths that correspond to percentages of the text area on screen (with different widths for different devices: desktop, tablet or mobile).

If we use the table above as an example, you add the code as follows:

<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th class="rpl-table--col-2">Year</th>
<th>Total amount ($)</th>
</tr>
</thead>

You generally don't need to set the width of all the columns. On this page, I set the width of just the first column in each table.

Here are the 12 snippets of code and what percentage they will apply.

Examples of how the different column widths display

Often you just want to set the first column and let the width of the other columns automatically display according to the contents.

This table has the first column set to display at 17% of the table's width.

This table has the first column set to display at 33% of the table's width.

This table has the first column set to display at 50% of the table's width. The fifth column has some longer text and this is affecting how columns 2, 3, 4 and 5 display in relation to each other.

This table has the first column set to display at 75% of the table's width. That doesn't leave much space to display the content in the other columns.

Occasionally you may want to merge some cells in a table heading row.

This is not ideal for accessibility - make sure you read the note below.

To merge table cells, you do it via the source code.

Use the colspan code

If you're merging cells in a column (such as a heading), you insert the code and remove extra cells that relate to the spanning.

This table has the first row set up as the heading row.

In this example, the table has 5 columns. We have merged the heading cells in columns 1,2 and 3 and deleted the heading code snippet for columns 2 and 3. The rest of the table has 5 cells per row.

<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th colspan="3">Head 1,2,3</th>
<th>Head 4</th>
<th>Head 5</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>blah blah</td>
<td>blah blah</td>
<td>blah blah</td>
<td>blah blah</td>
<td>blah blah</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>blah blah</td>
<td>blah blah</td>
<td>blah blah</td>
<td>blah blah</td>
<td>blah blah</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

Here's what the above code looks like:

Use the rowspan code

If you've set up a table and chosen the first column as the heading row, you'll notice the code looks different to that above. There are no <thead> tags, instead the first cell in each row has <th scope="row"> which indicates it's a heading. Here's an example:

<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Head 1</th>
<td>data</td>
<td>data</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Head 2</th>
<td>data</td>
<td>data</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Head 3</th>
<td>data</td>
<td>data</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Head 4</th>
<td>data</td>
<td>data</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

This is what the above code looks like:

To merge row cells, you insert the code and remove extra cells that relate to the spanning.

In this example, the table has 3 columns. We have merged the heading cells in column 1, rows 1 and 2. The cell with <th> tags in the second row has been deleted.

<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<th scope="row" rowspan="2">Head 1 & 2</th>
<td>data</td>
<td>data</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>data</td>
<td>data</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Head 3</th>
<td>data</td>
<td>data</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

Here's how this table displays:

Accessibility and merged table cells

Don't overuse merged cells in tables, they can be a tricky for screen readers, especially in complex data tables.

For example, one common, free screen reader app - NVDA - does not announce when a cell spans multiple rows or columns. (Source: accessibility-developer-guide.com).

Some users may find it easier to work with several simple tables than one more complex table. Authors should consider whether they can convert complex tables to one or more simple tables. (Source: w3.org)