Removing inherited css in table - html

Question

I'm having trouble removing the inherited styles in a sub-table. My tables basically look like this:
<table class="twocoltable">
<thead>
<tr><th>BlahBlah</th></tr>
</thead>
<tr>
<td>blah</td>
<td>
<table class="nostyle">
<tr>
<td>stuff</td>
<td>stuff</td>
</tr>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
EDIT My .css now looks like this. The sub-table has no styles, but the parent table's td styles aren't working, but the th styles are working.
.twocoltable { border-spacing: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 1px solid #666666; }
.twocoltable>thead>tr>th { text-align: center; font-weight: bold; color: black; font-size: 12pt; padding: 4px; background-color: #DDD; }
.twocoltable>tr>td:first-child { text-align: right; vertical-align: top; font-weight: bold; color: black; font-size: 9pt; padding: 4px; border-top: 1px solid #BBBBBB; border-right: 1px solid #BBBBBB; }
.twocoltable>tr>td:last-child { text-align: left; vertical-align: top; font-weight: normal; color: #333333; font-size: 9pt; padding: 4px; border-top: 1px solid #BBBBBB; white-space: nowrap; }
.nostyle * {
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
border: 0;
outline: 0;
font-size: 100%;
vertical-align: baseline;
background: transparent;
}
What I end up with at the end is a properly formatted parent table, but the sub-table also contains the formatting. It still has the bolding, borders, and alignment.
What am I missing?

Answer 1

Assign your styles only to your parent table's immediate children. This should work for properties like margin and padding. I.e.:
Instead of:
.twocoltable th
.twocoltable tr td:first-child
.twocoltable tr td:last-child
Do:
.twocoltable>thead>tr>th
.twocoltable>tr>td:first-child
.twocoltable>tr>td:last-child
However, other properties such as font-weight will still apply to child elements, because they are inherited. For those, you'll have to manually override in .nostyle definitions (which you haven't done). E.g.:
.nostyle {
font-weight: normal; // initial also works
}
EDIT:
Updating my answer with a general overview of what should be the final solution.
.twocoltable th {
// styles that will be applied to all th elements that live inside .twocoltable, including sub tables
}
.twocoltable tr td:first-child {
// styles that will be applied to all elements that are the first td of a parent and live inside .twocoltable, including sub tables
}
.twocoltable tr td:last-child {
// styles that will be applied to all elements that are the last td of a parent and live inside .twocoltable, including sub tables
}
.twocoltable>thead>tr>th {
// styles that will be applied ONLY to th elements that are direct children of tr elements that are direct children of thead elements that are direct children of .twocoltable. This excludes sub table th elements
}
// You should have got the idea by now
.twocoltable>tr>td:first-child {...}
.twocoltable>tr>td:last-child {...}
.nostyle {
// Styles that override styles that are inherited from its parent element even when that style has not been directly applied to it (e.g. font-weight)
}

Answer 2

By using this notation: .twocoltable tr, you will apply that style to all children of .twocoltable that are tr, no matter how deep they are.
You can choose to get more specific by adding classes to your tr elements, etc. Or you can use the child selector, >. It ensures the style is only applied to immediate children: .twocoltable > tr.

Answer 3

By having more specificity with your CSS, a great summary is found linked here, it will take precedence. Maybe using an ID for your main table, and a class for your nostyle cells would be the best way to organize it?
<table id="twocoltable">
<table class="nostyle">
Another option, you can override with CSS using !important, a jsFiddle linked here.