jQuery UI themes and HTML tables

Solution 1:

There are a bunch of resources out there:

Plugins with ThemeRoller support:

jqGrid

DataTables.net

UPDATE: Here is something I put together that will style the table:

<script type="text/javascript">

    (function ($) {
        $.fn.styleTable = function (options) {
            var defaults = {
                css: 'styleTable'
            };
            options = $.extend(defaults, options);

            return this.each(function () {

                input = $(this);
                input.addClass(options.css);

                input.find("tr").live('mouseover mouseout', function (event) {
                    if (event.type == 'mouseover') {
                        $(this).children("td").addClass("ui-state-hover");
                    } else {
                        $(this).children("td").removeClass("ui-state-hover");
                    }
                });

                input.find("th").addClass("ui-state-default");
                input.find("td").addClass("ui-widget-content");

                input.find("tr").each(function () {
                    $(this).children("td:not(:first)").addClass("first");
                    $(this).children("th:not(:first)").addClass("first");
                });
            });
        };
    })(jQuery);

    $(document).ready(function () {
        $("#Table1").styleTable();
    });

</script>

<table id="Table1" class="full">
    <tr>
        <th>one</th>
        <th>two</th>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>1</td>
        <td>2</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>1</td>
        <td>2</td>
    </tr>
</table>

The CSS:

.styleTable { border-collapse: separate; }
.styleTable TD { font-weight: normal !important; padding: .4em; border-top-width: 0px !important; }
.styleTable TH { text-align: center; padding: .8em .4em; }
.styleTable TD.first, .styleTable TH.first { border-left-width: 0px !important; }

Solution 2:

dochoffiday's answer is a great starting point, but for me it did not cut it (the CSS part needed a buff) so I made a modified version with several improvements.

See it in action, then come back for the description.

JavaScript

(function ($) {
    $.fn.styleTable = function (options) {
        var defaults = {
            css: 'ui-styled-table'
        };
        options = $.extend(defaults, options);

        return this.each(function () {
            $this = $(this);
            $this.addClass(options.css);

            $this.on('mouseover mouseout', 'tbody tr', function (event) {
                $(this).children().toggleClass("ui-state-hover",
                                               event.type == 'mouseover');
            });

            $this.find("th").addClass("ui-state-default");
            $this.find("td").addClass("ui-widget-content");
            $this.find("tr:last-child").addClass("last-child");
        });
    };
})(jQuery);

Differences with the original version:

• the default CSS class has been changed to ui-styled-table (it sounds more consistent)
• the .live call was replaced with the recommended .on for jQuery 1.7 upwards
• the explicit conditional has been replaced by .toggleClass (a terser equivalent)
• code that sets the misleadingly-named CSS class first on table cells has been removed
• the code that dynamically adds .last-child to the last table row is necessary to fix a visual glitch on Internet Explorer 7 and Internet Explorer 8; for browsers that support :last-child it is not necessary

CSS

/* Internet Explorer 7: setting "separate" results in bad visuals; all other browsers work fine with either value. */
/* If set to "separate", then this rule is also needed to prevent double vertical borders on hover:
table.ui-styled-table tr * + th, table.ui-styled-table tr * + td  { border-left-width: 0px !important; } */
table.ui-styled-table { border-collapse: collapse; }

/* Undo the "bolding" that jQuery UI theme may cause on hovered elements
/* Internet Explorer 7: does not support "inherit", so use a MS proprietary expression along with an Internet Explorer <= 7 targeting hack
        to make the visuals consistent across all supported browsers */
table.ui-styled-table td.ui-state-hover {
    font-weight: inherit;
    *font-weight: expression(this.parentNode.currentStyle['fontWeight']);
}

/* Initally remove bottom border for all cells. */
table.ui-styled-table th, table.ui-styled-table td { border-bottom-width: 0px !important; }

/* Hovered-row cells should show bottom border (will be highlighted) */
table.ui-styled-table tbody tr:hover th,
table.ui-styled-table tbody tr:hover td
{ border-bottom-width: 1px !important; }

/* Remove top border if the above row is being hovered to prevent double horizontal borders. */
table.ui-styled-table tbody tr:hover + tr th,
table.ui-styled-table tbody tr:hover + tr td
{ border-top-width: 0px !important; }

/* Last-row cells should always show bottom border (not necessarily highlighted if not hovered). */
/* Internet Explorer 7, Internet Explorer 8: selector dependent on CSS classes because of no support for :last-child */
table.ui-styled-table tbody tr.last-child th,
table.ui-styled-table tbody tr.last-child td
{ border-bottom-width: 1px !important; }

/* Last-row cells should always show bottom border (not necessarily highlighted if not hovered). */
/* Internet Explorer 8 BUG: if these (unsupported) selectors are added to a rule, other selectors for that rule will stop working as well! */
/* Internet Explorer 9 and later, Firefox, Chrome: make sure the visuals are working even without the CSS classes crutch. */
table.ui-styled-table tbody tr:last-child th,
table.ui-styled-table tbody tr:last-child td
{ border-bottom-width: 1px !important; }

Notes

I have tested this on Internet Explorer 7 and upwards, Firefox 11 and Google Chrome 18 and confirmed that it works perfectly. I have not tested reasonably earlier versions of Firefox and Chrome or any version of Opera; however, those browsers are well-known for good CSS support and since we are not using any bleeding-edge functionality here I assume it will work just fine there as well.

If you are not interested in Internet Explorer 7 support there is one CSS attribute (introduced with the star hack) that can go.

If you are not interested in Internet Explorer 8 support either, the CSS and JavaScript related to adding and targeting the last-child CSS class can go as well.