Tables

Use tables to logically organize content in a grid to make it easier to understand relationships between content and data types.

Best practices

Never use tables or nested tables for page layout.

Columns and rows

• Wherever possible, use single-word column headings and be concise and as descriptive as possible.
• Arrange table columns and rows based on user needs. To help people read the table, order the columns by importance from left to right, with important content at the beginning of the row.
• Striped row shading (zebra striping) helps users keep their place when scanning long horizontal datasets and should be used as tables start to scroll. Zebra stripes aren’t necessary for datasets of 7 or fewer rows or columns.
• If using zebra stripes, ensure the background row colour is light enough to provide accessibility-compliant contrast with cell content. For this reason, light neutral colours should always be used.

Table borders

Where zebra striping isn’t used, rows should be separated by a horizontal border. Avoid using vertical column borders in all tables as they can make it difficult to compare rows of data.

Content alignment

Left alignment should be the default except where an alternate alignment helps with comprehension. For example, numeric data is easier to read when right aligned. Always ensure column header alignment matches content alignment.

Width

Tables are typically as wide as the page or parent container. However, if there isn’t a lot of content, excessive table width can impede reading and comprehension. Where it makes sense, reduce the table width to fit the content.

Dynamic tables

A dynamic table allows users to manipulate data in the table by sorting, filtering, make selections, using links, and moving through data sets using pagination.

Sorting

Sorting defaults to the first column and sorts both alphabetically and numerically. Sortable columns are indicated with a sort icon (<i class="fas fa-sort-down"></i>) or (<i class="fas fa-sort-up"></i>) to the right of a column heading.

Filtering

Basic filtering allows users to display a subset of the data presented in the table by selecting an option from one or more single-select menus.

Actions

Additional actions that a user can take from an individual table row should be displayed in the far right column and could include text links, small buttons, single selects, or dropdowns. If two or more rows have the same actions, those actions should be vertically aligned.

How it works

Due to the widespread use of tables across third-party widgets like calendars and date pickers, we’ve designed our tables to be opt-in. Just add the base class .table to any <table>, then extend with custom styles or our various included modifier classes.

Using the most basic table markup, here’s how .table-based tables look in Bootstrap. All table styles are inherited in Bootstrap 4, meaning any nested tables will be styled in the same manner as the parent.

<table class="table">
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th scope="col">#</th>
      <th scope="col">First</th>
      <th scope="col">Last</th>
      <th scope="col">Handle</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <th scope="row">1</th>
      <td>Mark</td>
      <td>Otto</td>
      <td>@mdo</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th scope="row">2</th>
      <td>Jacob</td>
      <td>Thornton</td>
      <td>@fat</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th scope="row">3</th>
      <td>Larry</td>
      <td>the Bird</td>
      <td>@twitter</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

Striped rows

Use .table-striped to add zebra-striping to any table row within the <tbody>.

<table class="table table-striped">
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th scope="col">#</th>
      <th scope="col">First</th>
      <th scope="col">Last</th>
      <th scope="col">Handle</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <th scope="row">1</th>
      <td>Mark</td>
      <td>Otto</td>
      <td>@mdo</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th scope="row">2</th>
      <td>Jacob</td>
      <td>Thornton</td>
      <td>@fat</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th scope="row">3</th>
      <td>Larry</td>
      <td>the Bird</td>
      <td>@twitter</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

Bordered table

Add .table-bordered for borders on all sides of the table and cells.

<table class="table table-bordered">
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th scope="col">#</th>
      <th scope="col">First</th>
      <th scope="col">Last</th>
      <th scope="col">Handle</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <th scope="row">1</th>
      <td>Mark</td>
      <td>Otto</td>
      <td>@mdo</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th scope="row">2</th>
      <td>Jacob</td>
      <td>Thornton</td>
      <td>@fat</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th scope="row">3</th>
      <td colspan="2">Larry the Bird</td>
      <td>@twitter</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

Borderless table

Add .table-borderless for a table without borders.

<table class="table table-borderless">
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th scope="col">#</th>
      <th scope="col">First</th>
      <th scope="col">Last</th>
      <th scope="col">Handle</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <th scope="row">1</th>
      <td>Mark</td>
      <td>Otto</td>
      <td>@mdo</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th scope="row">2</th>
      <td>Jacob</td>
      <td>Thornton</td>
      <td>@fat</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th scope="row">3</th>
      <td colspan="2">Larry the Bird</td>
      <td>@twitter</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

Hoverable rows

Add .table-hover to enable a hover state on table rows within a <tbody>.

<table class="table table-hover">
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th scope="col">#</th>
      <th scope="col">First</th>
      <th scope="col">Last</th>
      <th scope="col">Handle</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <th scope="row">1</th>
      <td>Mark</td>
      <td>Otto</td>
      <td>@mdo</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th scope="row">2</th>
      <td>Jacob</td>
      <td>Thornton</td>
      <td>@fat</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th scope="row">3</th>
      <td colspan="2">Larry the Bird</td>
      <td>@twitter</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

Small table

Add .table-sm to make tables more compact by cutting cell padding in half.

<table class="table table-sm">
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th scope="col">#</th>
      <th scope="col">First</th>
      <th scope="col">Last</th>
      <th scope="col">Handle</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <th scope="row">1</th>
      <td>Mark</td>
      <td>Otto</td>
      <td>@mdo</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th scope="row">2</th>
      <td>Jacob</td>
      <td>Thornton</td>
      <td>@fat</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th scope="row">3</th>
      <td colspan="2">Larry the Bird</td>
      <td>@twitter</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

Captions

A <caption> functions like a heading for a table. It helps users with screen readers to find a table and understand what it’s about and decide if they want to read it.

<table class="table">
  <caption>List of users</caption>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th scope="col">#</th>
      <th scope="col">First</th>
      <th scope="col">Last</th>
      <th scope="col">Handle</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <th scope="row">1</th>
      <td>Mark</td>
      <td>Otto</td>
      <td>@mdo</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th scope="row">2</th>
      <td>Jacob</td>
      <td>Thornton</td>
      <td>@fat</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th scope="row">3</th>
      <td>Larry</td>
      <td>the Bird</td>
      <td>@twitter</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

Responsive tables

Responsive tables allow tables to be scrolled horizontally with ease. Make any table responsive across all viewports by wrapping a .table with .table-responsive. Or, pick a maximum breakpoint with which to have a responsive table up to by using .table-responsive{-sm|-md|-lg|-xl}. If your project supports mobile or smaller screens then all your tables should be responsive.

Always responsive

Across every breakpoint, use .table-responsive for horizontally scrolling tables.

<div class="table-responsive">
  <table class="table">
    ...
  </table>
</div>

Breakpoint specific

Use .table-responsive{-sm|-md|-lg|-xl} as needed to create responsive tables up to a particular breakpoint. From that breakpoint and up, the table will behave normally and not scroll horizontally.

These tables may appear broken until their responsive styles apply at specific viewport widths.

<div class="table-responsive-md">
  <table class="table">
    ...
  </table>
</div>