table-layout Attribute | tableLayout Property

Gets or sets a string that indicates whether the table layout is fixed.

Syntax

CSS	{ table-layout : sLayout }
Scripting	[ sLayout = ] object.style.tableLayout

Possible Values

sLayout

String that specifies or receives one of the following values: auto Default. Column width is set by the widest unbreakable content in the column cells. fixed Table and column widths are set either by the sum of the widths on the col objects or, if these are not specified, by the width of the first row of cells. If no width is specified for the table, it renders by default with width=100%.

The property is read/write for all objects except the following, for which it is read-only: currentStyle. The property has a default value of auto. The Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) attribute is not inherited.

DHTML expressions can be used in place of the preceding value(s). As of Internet Explorer 8, expressions are supported in IE7 Standards mode and IE5 (Quirks) mode only. For more information, see About Dynamic Properties and Defining Document Compatibility.

Remarks

You can optimize table rendering performance by specifying the tableLayout property. This property causes the table to be rendered one row at a time, providing users with information at a faster pace. The tableLayout property determines column widths for a table in the following order:

1. By using information in the width property for the col or colGroup element.
2. By using information in the width property for the td elements in the first row.
3. By dividing the table columns equally, regardless of the size of the content.

If the content of a cell exceeds the fixed width of the column, the content is wrapped or, if wrapping is not possible, it is clipped. If the tableLayout property is set to fixed, the overflow property can be used to handle content that exceeds the width of a td element. If the row height is specified, wrapped text is clipped when it exceeds the set height.

Setting the property to fixed significantly improves table rendering speed, particularly for longer tables.

Setting row height further improves rendering speed, again enabling the parser to begin rendering the row without examining the content of each cell in the row to determine row height.

Example

This example uses the Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) attribute to set the table layout to fixed.

Copy

<TABLE STYLE="table-layout:fixed" WIDTH=600>
<COL WIDTH=100><COL WIDTH=300><COL WIDTH=200>
<TR HEIGHT=20>
<TD>...</TD><TD>...</TD><TD>...</TD>
</TR>
:
</TABLE>

Standards Information

This property is defined in CSS, Level 2 (CSS2).

Applies To

CSSStyleDeclaration, currentStyle, runtimeStyle, style, TABLE, CSSCurrentStyleDeclaration Constructor, CSSRuleStyleDeclaration Constructor, CSSStyleDeclaration Constructor

See Also

Enhancing Table Presentation, width