HTML table with fixed headers?

Is there a cross-browser CSS/JavaScript technique to display a long HTML table such that the column headers stay fixed on-screen and do not scroll with the table body. Think of the "freeze panes" effect in Microsoft Excel.

I want to be able to scroll through the contents of the table, but to always be able to see the column headers at the top.

Solution 1:

This can be cleanly solved in four lines of code.

If you only care about modern browsers, a fixed header can be achieved much easier by using CSS transforms. Sounds odd, but works great:

• HTML and CSS stay as-is.
• No external JavaScript dependencies.
• Four lines of code.
• Works for all configurations (table-layout: fixed, etc.).

document.getElementById("wrap").addEventListener("scroll", function(){
   var translate = "translate(0,"+this.scrollTop+"px)";
   this.querySelector("thead").style.transform = translate;
});

Support for CSS transforms is widely available except for Internet Explorer 8-.

Here is the full example for reference:

document.getElementById("wrap").addEventListener("scroll",function(){
   var translate = "translate(0,"+this.scrollTop+"px)";
   this.querySelector("thead").style.transform = translate;
});

/* Your existing container */
#wrap {
    overflow: auto;
    height: 400px;
}

/* CSS for demo */
td {
    background-color: green;
    width: 200px;
    height: 100px;
}

<div id="wrap">
    <table>
        <thead>
            <tr>
                <th>Foo</th>
                <th>Bar</th>
            </tr>
        </thead>
        <tbody>
            <tr><td></td><td></td></tr>
            <tr><td></td><td></td></tr>
            <tr><td></td><td></td></tr>
            <tr><td></td><td></td></tr>
            <tr><td></td><td></td></tr>
            <tr><td></td><td></td></tr>
            <tr><td></td><td></td></tr>
            <tr><td></td><td></td></tr>
            <tr><td></td><td></td></tr>
            <tr><td></td><td></td></tr>
            <tr><td></td><td></td></tr>
            <tr><td></td><td></td></tr>
        </tbody>
    </table>
</div>

Solution 2:

I was looking for a solution for this for a while and found most of the answers are not working or not suitable for my situation, so I wrote a simple solution with jQuery.

This is the solution outline:

1. Clone the table that needs to have a fixed header, and place the cloned copy on top of the original.
2. Remove the table body from top table.
3. Remove the table header from bottom table.
4. Adjust the column widths. (We keep track of the original column widths)

Below is the code in a runnable demo.

function scrolify(tblAsJQueryObject, height) {
  var oTbl = tblAsJQueryObject;

  // for very large tables you can remove the four lines below
  // and wrap the table with <div> in the mark-up and assign
  // height and overflow property  
  var oTblDiv = $("<div/>");
  oTblDiv.css('height', height);
  oTblDiv.css('overflow', 'scroll');
  oTbl.wrap(oTblDiv);

  // save original width
  oTbl.attr("data-item-original-width", oTbl.width());
  oTbl.find('thead tr td').each(function() {
    $(this).attr("data-item-original-width", $(this).width());
  });
  oTbl.find('tbody tr:eq(0) td').each(function() {
    $(this).attr("data-item-original-width", $(this).width());
  });


  // clone the original table
  var newTbl = oTbl.clone();

  // remove table header from original table
  oTbl.find('thead tr').remove();
  // remove table body from new table
  newTbl.find('tbody tr').remove();

  oTbl.parent().parent().prepend(newTbl);
  newTbl.wrap("<div/>");

  // replace ORIGINAL COLUMN width				
  newTbl.width(newTbl.attr('data-item-original-width'));
  newTbl.find('thead tr td').each(function() {
    $(this).width($(this).attr("data-item-original-width"));
  });
  oTbl.width(oTbl.attr('data-item-original-width'));
  oTbl.find('tbody tr:eq(0) td').each(function() {
    $(this).width($(this).attr("data-item-original-width"));
  });
}

$(document).ready(function() {
  scrolify($('#tblNeedsScrolling'), 160); // 160 is height
});

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.6.4/jquery.min.js"></script>

<div style="width:300px;border:6px green solid;">
  <table border="1" width="100%" id="tblNeedsScrolling">
    <thead>
      <tr><th>Header 1</th><th>Header 2</th></tr>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
      <tr><td>row 1, cell 1</td><td>row 1, cell 2</td></tr>
      <tr><td>row 2, cell 1</td><td>row 2, cell 2</td></tr>
      <tr><td>row 3, cell 1</td><td>row 3, cell 2</td></tr>
      <tr><td>row 4, cell 1</td><td>row 4, cell 2</td></tr>			
      <tr><td>row 5, cell 1</td><td>row 5, cell 2</td></tr>
      <tr><td>row 6, cell 1</td><td>row 6, cell 2</td></tr>
      <tr><td>row 7, cell 1</td><td>row 7, cell 2</td></tr>
      <tr><td>row 8, cell 1</td><td>row 8, cell 2</td></tr>			
    </tbody>
  </table>
</div>

This solution works in Chrome and IE. Since it is based on jQuery, this should work in other jQuery supported browsers as well.

Solution 3:

I've just completed putting together a jQuery plugin that will take valid single table using valid HTML (have to have a thead and tbody) and will output a table that has fixed headers, optional fixed footer that can either be a cloned header or any content you chose (pagination, etc.). If you want to take advantage of larger monitors it will also resize the table when the browser is resized. Another added feature is being able to side scroll if the table columns can not all fit in view.

http://fixedheadertable.com/

on github: http://markmalek.github.com/Fixed-Header-Table/

It's extremely easy to setup and you can create your own custom styles for it. It also uses rounded corners in all browsers. Keep in mind I just released it, so it's still technically beta and there are very few minor issues I'm ironing out.

It works in Internet Explorer 7, Internet Explorer 8, Safari, Firefox and Chrome.