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Fixed headers in large HTML tables

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24 Jun 2006CPOL2 min read 372.1K   10.7K   53   73
There are quite a lot of ways to fix the header column and rows in HTML tables. But when tables become larger, most of them are not useful because scrolling gets far too slow. In this article, I will show an applicable way for IE.

Introduction

There are quite a lot of ways to fix the header column and rows in HTML tables. But when tables become larger, most of them are not useful because scrolling gets far too slow. In the following sample, I will show an applicable way for IE.

My HTML page contains two divs and a table.

HTML
...
<div id="outerDiv">
 <div id="innerDiv">
  <table>
   ...
  </table>
 </div>
</div>
...

In my sample, the table looks like this (the red border shows the innerDiv):

Sample screenshot

The main idea is to copy the innerDiv with the table three times so that there is a div each for the header row, the header column, the first cell in the header row, and the body of the table.

  • In the first three divs, overflow must be set to hidden.
  • In the body div, overflow can be set to scroll if the body is larger then the available space. Furthermore, the table in the body div needs to be positioned absolutely. Top and Left positions have to be negative (Top = -height of header row, Left = -width of header column) so that the headers are no more visible than the body div.

By copying the whole table, all rows and columns will have equal width and height. If you would only copy the first row of the table to the header div, column width in the header could differ from the body columns. After copying the divs, my outerDiv contains four innerDivs (the red borders show the innerDivs):

Sample screenshot

Finally, the divs have to scroll synchronously. When you scroll to the right, the header row has to move to the right too, and when you scroll to the bottom, the header column needs to move too. I found a nice way to do this here.

Sample screenshot

You can view an online demo here.

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)


Written By
Software Developer software architects
Austria Austria
Hi, my name is Karin Huber. Since 1998 I have been working as a developer and IT consultant focusing on building database oriented web applications. In 2007 my friend Rainer and I decided that we want to build a business based on COTS (component off-the-shelf) software. As a result we founded "software architects".

These days we are offering our first version of the time tracking software called 'time cockpit'. You can find more information at www.timecockpit.com.

Comments and Discussions

 
GeneralCheckboxes in Scrollable Table Pin
kusseal3-May-07 22:01
kusseal3-May-07 22:01 
GeneralRe: Checkboxes in Scrollable Table Pin
dubbele onzin29-Oct-07 9:59
dubbele onzin29-Oct-07 9:59 
GeneralRe: Checkboxes in Scrollable Table Pin
Member 1018685024-Nov-14 20:31
Member 1018685024-Nov-14 20:31 
JokeFreezing Multiple Columns Pin
sivad117825-Oct-06 14:14
sivad117825-Oct-06 14:14 
GeneralRe: Freezing Multiple Columns Pin
Hayw1r326-Nov-07 12:47
Hayw1r326-Nov-07 12:47 
GeneralRe: Freezing Multiple Columns Pin
pete in atlanta17-Dec-07 2:24
pete in atlanta17-Dec-07 2:24 
GeneralRe: Freezing Multiple Columns Pin
David Barraclough1-Oct-08 2:52
David Barraclough1-Oct-08 2:52 
Questionwrapping cell text Pin
thedrums16-Oct-06 8:27
thedrums16-Oct-06 8:27 
This solution is excellent! I have been trying to do this for some time. I was wondering about wrapping the text in the table cells, however. Before implementing your solution, my table looked very nice but was far less usable due to the non-fixed headers. Now my table works great but it contains some incredibly wide cells because the text is not wrapping.

I admit I am not a javascript expert by any means. Is there a relatively easy way to fix this and still maintain the fixed headers?

Thanks so much.

Andy
GeneralWorking In Most Browsers [modified] Pin
Kenneth Bogert5-Oct-06 21:02
Kenneth Bogert5-Oct-06 21:02 
GeneralRe: Working In Most Browsers Pin
Keith Worden9-Jul-10 5:55
Keith Worden9-Jul-10 5:55 
GeneralRe: Working In Most Browsers Pin
hec7827-Dec-10 22:13
hec7827-Dec-10 22:13 
GeneralWorking in Firefox + IE Pin
Kenneth Bogert11-Aug-06 11:45
Kenneth Bogert11-Aug-06 11:45 
GeneralRe: Working in Firefox + IE Pin
chathuraka7-Jun-07 19:18
chathuraka7-Jun-07 19:18 
GeneralProblem when using Ctrl-F to find Pin
THEDI8-Aug-06 18:07
THEDI8-Aug-06 18:07 
GeneralDisplay row using javascript Pin
adril1qqww25-Jul-06 6:53
adril1qqww25-Jul-06 6:53 
GeneralCopying tables Pin
jasongilley4-Jul-06 7:44
jasongilley4-Jul-06 7:44 
GeneralRe: Copying tables Pin
Dwight Johnson5-Jul-06 2:56
Dwight Johnson5-Jul-06 2:56 
GeneralRe: Copying tables Pin
Karin Huber5-Jul-06 7:20
Karin Huber5-Jul-06 7:20 
GeneralRe: Copying tables Pin
jasongilley5-Jul-06 8:51
jasongilley5-Jul-06 8:51 
GeneralRe: Copying tables Pin
Karin Huber6-Jul-06 3:02
Karin Huber6-Jul-06 3:02 
GeneralDuplicating the entire table Pin
Ashley van Gerven27-Jun-06 7:20
Ashley van Gerven27-Jun-06 7:20 
GeneralRe: Duplicating the entire table Pin
Karin Huber29-Jun-06 5:52
Karin Huber29-Jun-06 5:52 
GeneralRe: Duplicating the entire table Pin
Ashley van Gerven29-Jun-06 13:43
Ashley van Gerven29-Jun-06 13:43 
Questionfirefox solution ? Pin
webber12345626-Jun-06 6:43
webber12345626-Jun-06 6:43 
AnswerRe: firefox solution ? Pin
Ashley van Gerven26-Jun-06 23:48
Ashley van Gerven26-Jun-06 23:48 

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