How do I create an HTML table with a fixed/frozen left column and a scrollable body?

Question

I need a simple solution. I know it\'s similar to some other questions, like:

• HTML table with fixed headers and a fixed column?
• How can I lock the fir

Answer 1

//If the table has tbody and thead, make them the relative container in which we can fix td and th as absolute

table tbody {
    position: relative;
}

table thead {
    position: relative;
}

//Make both the first header and first data cells (First column) absolute so that it sticks to the left

table td:first-of-type {
    position: absolute;
}

table th:first-of-type {
    position: absolute;
}

//Move Second column according to the width of column 1 

table td:nth-of-type(2) {
    padding-left: <Width of column 1>;
}

table th:nth-of-type(2) {
    padding-left: <Width of column 1>;
}

Answer 2

FWIW, here is a table that is scrollable with the head and side fixed.

http://codepen.io/ajkochanowicz/pen/KHdih

Answer 3

If you're developing something more complicated and want multiple columns to be fixed/stuck to the left, you'll probably need something like this.

.wrapper {
    overflow-x: scroll;
}

td {
    min-width: 50px;
}

.fixed {
    position: absolute;
    background: #aaa;
}

<div class="content" style="width: 400px">

  <div class="wrapper" style="margin-left: 100px">

      <table>
        <thead>
          <tr>
            <th class="fixed" style="left: 0px">aaa</th>
            <th class="fixed" style="left: 50px">aaa2</th>
            <th>a</th>
            <th>b</th>
            <th>c</th>
            <th>d</th>
            <th>e</th>
            <th>f</th>
            <th>a</th>
            <th>b</th>
            <th>c</th>
            <th>d</th>
            <th>e</th>
            <th>f</th>
            <th>a</th>
            <th>b</th>
            <th>c</th>
            <th>d</th>
            <th>e</th>
            <th>f</th>
            <th>a</th>
            <th>b</th>
            <th>c</th>
            <th>d</th>
            <th>e</th>
            <th>f</th>        
          </tr>
        </thead>
        <tbody>
          <tr>
            <td class="fixed" style="left: 0px">aaa</td>
            <td class="fixed" style="left: 50px">aaa2</td>
            <td>a</td>
            <td>b</td>
            <td>c</td>
            <td>d</td>
            <td>e</td>
            <td>f</td>
            <td>a</td>
            <td>b</td>
            <td>c</td>
            <td>d</td>
            <td>e</td>
            <td>f</td>
            <td>a</td>
            <td>b</td>
            <td>c</td>
            <td>d</td>
            <td>e</td>
            <td>f</td>
            <td>a</td>
            <td>b</td>
            <td>c</td>
            <td>d</td>
            <td>e</td>
            <td>f</td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
            <td class="fixed" style="left: 0">bbb</td>
            <td class="fixed" style="left: 50px">bbb2</td>
            <td>a</td>
            <td>b</td>
            <td>c</td>
            <td>d</td>
            <td>e</td>
            <td>f</td>
            <td>a</td>
            <td>b</td>
            <td>c</td>
            <td>d</td>
            <td>e</td>
            <td>f</td>
            <td>a</td>
            <td>b</td>
            <td>c</td>
            <td>d</td>
            <td>e</td>
            <td>f</td>
            <td>a</td>
            <td>b</td>
            <td>c</td>
            <td>d</td>
            <td>e</td>
            <td>f</td>
          </tr>
        </tbody>
      </table>

  </div>

</div>

Answer 4

Alternatively, style the tbody with a predetermined size (via height:20em, for example) and use overflow-y:scroll;

Then, you can have a huge tbody, which will scroll independently of the rest of the page.

Answer 5

For most browsers released after 2017:

You can use the position: sticky. See https://caniuse.com/#feat=css-sticky.

There is no need for a fixed width column.

Run the code snippet below to see how it works.

.tscroll {
  width: 400px;
  overflow-x: scroll;
  margin-bottom: 10px;
  border: solid black 1px;
}

.tscroll table td:first-child {
  position: sticky;
  left: 0;
  background-color: #ffffd;
}

.tscroll td, .tscroll th {
  border-bottom: dashed #888 1px;
}

<html>
<div class="tscroll">
  <table>
    <thead>
      <tr>
        <th></th>
        <th colspan="5">Heading 1</th>
        <th colspan="8">Heading 2</th>
        <th colspan="4">Heading 3</th>
      </tr>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
      <tr>
        <td>9:00</td>
        <td>AAA</td>
        <td>BBB</td>
        <td>CCC</td>
        <td>DDD</td>
        <td>EEE</td>
        <td>FFF</td>
        <td>GGG</td>
        <td>HHH</td>
        <td>III</td>
        <td>JJJ</td>
        <td>KKK</td>
        <td>LLL</td>
        <td>MMM</td>
        <td>NNN</td>
        <td>OOO</td>
        <td>PPP</td>
        <td>QQQ</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>10:00</td>
        <td>AAA</td>
        <td>BBB</td>
        <td>CCC</td>
        <td>DDD</td>
        <td>EEE</td>
        <td>FFF</td>
        <td>GGG</td>
        <td>HHH</td>
        <td>III</td>
        <td>JJJ</td>
        <td>KKK</td>
        <td>LLL</td>
        <td>MMM</td>
        <td>NNN</td>
        <td>OOO</td>
        <td>PPP</td>
        <td>QQQ</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>11:00</td>
        <td>AAA</td>
        <td>BBB</td>
        <td>CCC</td>
        <td>DDD</td>
        <td>EEE</td>
        <td>FFF</td>
        <td>GGG</td>
        <td>HHH</td>
        <td>III</td>
        <td>JJJ</td>
        <td>KKK</td>
        <td>LLL</td>
        <td>MMM</td>
        <td>NNN</td>
        <td>OOO</td>
        <td>PPP</td>
        <td>QQQ</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>12:00</td>
        <td>AAA</td>
        <td>BBB</td>
        <td>CCC</td>
        <td>DDD</td>
        <td>EEE</td>
        <td>FFF</td>
        <td>GGG</td>
        <td>HHH</td>
        <td>III</td>
        <td>JJJ</td>
        <td>KKK</td>
        <td>LLL</td>
        <td>MMM</td>
        <td>NNN</td>
        <td>OOO</td>
        <td>PPP</td>
        <td>QQQ</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>13:00</td>
        <td>AAA</td>
        <td>BBB</td>
        <td>CCC</td>
        <td>DDD</td>
        <td>EEE</td>
        <td>FFF</td>
        <td>GGG</td>
        <td>HHH</td>
        <td>III</td>
        <td>JJJ</td>
        <td>KKK</td>
        <td>LLL</td>
        <td>MMM</td>
        <td>NNN</td>
        <td>OOO</td>
        <td>PPP</td>
        <td>QQQ</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>14:00</td>
        <td>AAA</td>
        <td>BBB</td>
        <td>CCC</td>
        <td>DDD</td>
        <td>EEE</td>
        <td>FFF</td>
        <td>GGG</td>
        <td>HHH</td>
        <td>III</td>
        <td>JJJ</td>
        <td>KKK</td>
        <td>LLL</td>
        <td>MMM</td>
        <td>NNN</td>
        <td>OOO</td>
        <td>PPP</td>
        <td>QQQ</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>15:00</td>
        <td>AAA</td>
        <td>BBB</td>
        <td>CCC</td>
        <td>DDD</td>
        <td>EEE</td>
        <td>FFF</td>
        <td>GGG</td>
        <td>HHH</td>
        <td>III</td>
        <td>JJJ</td>
        <td>KKK</td>
        <td>LLL</td>
        <td>MMM</td>
        <td>NNN</td>
        <td>OOO</td>
        <td>PPP</td>
        <td>QQQ</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>16:00</td>
        <td>AAA</td>
        <td>BBB</td>
        <td>CCC</td>
        <td>DDD</td>
        <td>EEE</td>
        <td>FFF</td>
        <td>GGG</td>
        <td>HHH</td>
        <td>III</td>
        <td>JJJ</td>
        <td>KKK</td>
        <td>LLL</td>
        <td>MMM</td>
        <td>NNN</td>
        <td>OOO</td>
        <td>PPP</td>
        <td>QQQ</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>17:00</td>
        <td>AAA</td>
        <td>BBB</td>
        <td>CCC</td>
        <td>DDD</td>
        <td>EEE</td>
        <td>FFF</td>
        <td>GGG</td>
        <td>HHH</td>
        <td>III</td>
        <td>JJJ</td>
        <td>KKK</td>
        <td>LLL</td>
        <td>MMM</td>
        <td>NNN</td>
        <td>OOO</td>
        <td>PPP</td>
        <td>QQQ</td>
      </tr>
    </tbody>
    </table>
</div>

Answer 6

I didn't check each and every answer for this question, but after analyzing most of them I found that design fails in case of multiline data in cells or head. I used Javascript to solve this. I hope someone finds this helpful.

https://codepen.io/kushagrarora/pen/zeYaoY

var freezeTables = document.getElementsByClassName("freeze-pane");

[].forEach.call(freezeTables, ftable => {
  var wrapper = document.createElement("div");
  wrapper.className = "freeze-pane-wrapper";
  var scroll = document.createElement("div");
  scroll.className = "freeze-pane-scroll";

  wrapper.appendChild(scroll);

  ftable.parentNode.replaceChild(wrapper, ftable);

  scroll.appendChild(ftable);

  var heads = ftable.querySelectorAll("th:first-child");

  let maxWidth = 0;

  [].forEach.call(heads, head => {
    var w = window
      .getComputedStyle(head)
      .getPropertyValue("width")
      .split("px")[0];
    if (Number(w) > Number(maxWidth)) maxWidth = w;
  });

  ftable.parentElement.style.marginLeft = maxWidth + "px";
  ftable.parentElement.style.width = "calc(100% - " + maxWidth + "px)";
  [].forEach.call(heads, head => {
    head.style.width = maxWidth + "px";
    var restRowHeight = window
      .getComputedStyle(head.nextElementSibling)
      .getPropertyValue("height");
    var headHeight = window.getComputedStyle(head).getPropertyValue("height");
    if (headHeight > restRowHeight)
      head.nextElementSibling.style.height = headHeight;
    else head.style.height = restRowHeight;
  });
});

@import url("https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Open+Sans");
* {
  font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif;
}

.container {
  width: 400px;
  height: 90vh;
  border: 1px solid black;
  overflow: hidden;
}

table,
th,
td {
  border: 1px solid #eee;
}

.table {
  width: 100%;
  margin-bottom: 1rem;
  table-layout: fixed;
  border-collapse: collapse;
}

.freeze-pane-wrapper {
  position: relative;
}

.freeze-pane-scroll {
  overflow-x: scroll;
  overflow-y: visible;
}

.freeze-pane th:first-child {
  position: absolute;
  background-color: pink;
  left: 0;
  top: auto;
  max-width: 40%;
}

<div class="container">
  <table class="freeze-pane">
    <tbody>
      <tr>
        <th>
          <p>Model</p>
        </th>
        <th>
          <p>Mercedes Benz AMG C43 4dr</p>
        </th>
        <th>
          <p>Audi S4 Premium 4dr</p>
        </th>
        <th>
          <p>BMW 440i 4dr sedan</p>
        </th>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <th>
          <p>Passenger capacity</p>
        </th>
        <td>
          <p>5</p>
        </td>
        <td>
          <p>5</p>
        </td>
        <td>
          <p>5</p>
        </td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <th>
          <p>Front (Head/Shoulder/Leg) (In.)</p>
        </th>
        <td>
          <p>37.1/55.3/41.7</p>
        </td>
        <td>
          <p>38.9/55.9/41.3</p>
        </td>
        <td>
          <p>39.9/54.8/42.2</p>
        </td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <th>
          <p>Second (Head/Shoulder/Leg) (In.)</p>
        </th>
        <td>
          <p>37.1/55.5/35.2</p>
        </td>
        <td>
          <p>37.4/54.5/35.7</p>
        </td>
        <td>
          <p>36.9/54.3/33.7</p>
        </td>
      </tr>
    </tbody>
  </table>
</div>

Note: the "container" div is just to demonstrate that code is compatible with mobile-view.