Idocs Guide to HTML
Home >> Tables
previous page<CAPTION VALIGN="...">back to Tables return

<THEAD ...>, <TBODY ...> , <TFOOT ...>

<THEAD ...>, <TBODY ...>, and <TFOOT ...> establish groups of rows. <THEAD ...> indicates that a group of rows are the header rows at the top of the table. <TBODY ...> indicates that a group of rows are body rows. <TFOOT ...> indicates that a group of rows are the footer rows at the bottom of the table.

The most popuplar use for these three tags, which are currently only recognized by MSIE 4 and up, is to put borders between groups of rows instead of between every row. For example, suppose you have a table in which you want borders around the top row, the bottow row, and around the entire block of rows in between. You could do that with the following code. Note that in addition to <THEAD ...>, <TBODY ...>, and <TFOOT ...> you also must use <TABLE RULES=GROUPS>: 

<TABLE CELLPADDING=6 RULES=GROUPS  FRAME=BOX>

<THEAD>
<TR> <TH>Weekday</TH> <TH>Date</TH> <TH>Manager</TH> <TH>Qty</TH> </TR>
</THEAD>

<TBODY>
<TR> <TD>Mon</TD> <TD>09/11</TD> <TD>Kelsey</TD>  <TD>639</TD>  </TR>
<TR> <TD>Tue</TD> <TD>09/12</TD> <TD>Lindsey</TD> <TD>596</TD>  </TR>
<TR> <TD>Wed</TD> <TD>09/13</TD> <TD>Randy</TD>   <TD>1135</TD> </TR>
<TR> <TD>Thu</TD> <TD>09/14</TD> <TD>Susan</TD>   <TD>1002</TD> </TR>
<TR> <TD>Fri</TD> <TD>09/15</TD> <TD>Randy</TD>   <TD>908</TD>  </TR>
<TR> <TD>Sat</TD> <TD>09/16</TD> <TD>Lindsey</TD> <TD>371</TD>  </TR>
<TR> <TD>Sun</TD> <TD>09/17</TD> <TD>Susan</TD>   <TD>272</TD>  </TR>
</TBODY>

<TFOOT>
<TR> <TH ALIGN=LEFT COLSPAN=3>Total</TH> <TH>4923</TH> </TR>
</TFOOT>

</TABLE>

which gives us this table:

Weekday Date Manager Qty
Mon 09/11 Kelsey 639
Tue 09/12 Lindsey 596
Wed 09/13 Randy 1135
Thu 09/14 Susan 1002
Fri 09/15 Randy 908
Sat 09/16 Lindsey 371
Sun 09/17 Susan 272
Total 4923

You should use at most one <THEAD ...> or <TFOOT ...>, but you can use multiple <TBODY ...>'s. For example, the following code has several <TBODY ...>'s to create multiple groups of data: 

<TABLE RULES=GROUPS FRAME=BOX>

<THEAD>
<TR> <TH>Weekday</TH> <TH>Date</TH>  <TH>Manager</TH> </TR>
</THEAD>

<TBODY>
<TR> <TD>Monday</TD>    <TD>09/11/2000</TD> <TD>Kelsey</TD>  </TR>
<TR> <TD>Tuesday</TD>   <TD>09/12/2000</TD> <TD>Lindsey</TD> </TR>
<TR> <TD>Wednesday</TD> <TD>09/13/2000</TD> <TD>Randy</TD>   </TR>
<TR> <TD>Thursday</TD>  <TD>09/14/2000</TD> <TD>Susan</TD>   </TR>
<TR> <TD>Friday</TD>    <TD>09/15/2000</TD> <TD>Randy</TD>   </TR>
<TR> <TD>Saturday</TD>  <TD>09/16/2000</TD> <TD>Lindsey</TD> </TR>
<TR> <TD>Sunday</TD>    <TD>09/17/2000</TD> <TD>Susan</TD>   </TR>
</TBODY>

<TBODY>
<TR> <TD>Monday</TD>    <TD>09/18/2000</TD> <TD>Melody</TD>     </TR>
<TR> <TD>Tuesday</TD>   <TD>09/19/2000</TD> <TD>Christiane</TD> </TR>
<TR> <TD>Wednesday</TD> <TD>09/20/2000</TD> <TD>Symphony</TD>   </TR>
<TR> <TD>Thursday</TD>  <TD>09/21/2000</TD> <TD>Starflower</TD> </TR>
<TR> <TD>Friday</TD>    <TD>09/22/2000</TD> <TD>Miko</TD>       </TR>
<TR> <TD>Saturday</TD>  <TD>09/23/2000</TD> <TD>Cleo</TD>       </TR>
<TR> <TD>Sunday</TD>    <TD>09/24/2000</TD> <TD>Alyx</TD>       </TR>
</TBODY>

<TBODY>
<TR> <TD>Monday</TD>    <TD>09/25/2000</TD> <TD>Dancing Star</TD> </TR>
<TR> <TD>Tuesday</TD>   <TD>09/26/2000</TD> <TD>Dawn</TD>         </TR>
<TR> <TD>Wednesday</TD> <TD>09/27/2000</TD> <TD>Josh</TD>         </TR>
<TR> <TD>Thursday</TD>  <TD>09/28/2000</TD> <TD>Ryan</TD>         </TR>
<TR> <TD>Friday</TD>    <TD>09/29/2000</TD> <TD>Mary Kay</TD>     </TR>
<TR> <TD>Saturday</TD>  <TD>09/30/2000</TD> <TD>Hallie</TD>       </TR>
<TR> <TD>Sunday</TD>    <TD>10/01/2000</TD> <TD>Paul</TD>         </TR>
</TBODY>

</TABLE>

which gives us this table:

Weekday Date Manager
Monday 09/11/2000 Kelsey
Tuesday 09/12/2000 Lindsey
Wednesday 09/13/2000 Randy
Thursday 09/14/2000 Susan
Friday 09/15/2000 Randy
Saturday 09/16/2000 Lindsey
Sunday 09/17/2000 Susan
Monday 09/18/2000 Melody
Tuesday 09/19/2000 Christiane
Wednesday 09/20/2000 Symphony
Thursday 09/21/2000 Starflower
Friday 09/22/2000 Miko
Saturday 09/23/2000 Cleo
Sunday 09/24/2000 Alyx
Monday 09/25/2000 Dancing Star
Tuesday 09/26/2000 Dawn
Wednesday 09/27/2000 Josh
Thursday 09/28/2000 Ryan
Friday 09/29/2000 Mary Kay
Saturday 09/30/2000 Hallie
Sunday 10/01/2000 Paul

previous page<CAPTION VALIGN="...">back to Tables return
Copyright 1997-2002 Idocs Inc. Content in this guide is offered freely to the public under the terms of the Open Content License and the Open Publication License. Contents may be redistributed or republished freely under these terms so long as credit to the original creator and contributors is maintained.