TD column width value not working with fixed table-layout - html

Question

I have following table structure:
<table class="tableStyle">
<tr>
<td width="20px">col1</td>
<td width="50px">col2</td>
<td width="50px">col3</td>
<td width="15px">col4</td>
<td width="25px">col5</td>
<td width="20px">col6</td>
<td width="20px">col7</td>
<td width="20px">col8</td>
</tr>
</table>
CSS class definition is:
.tableStyle{
table-layout:fixed;
margin: 0 auto; width: 960px;
}
The problem is that all columns are displaying with equal width despite the fact that i am explicitly defining each column width.
Why are above width values are not working? Any suggestion to make it work with fixed table layout?

Answer 1

The "archaic" width attribute does not take a unit, it expects something like width="20".
However, the "most correct" way to define a table is like so:
<table>
<colgroup>
<col style="width:20px" />
<col style="width:50px" span="2" />
<col style="width:15px" />
<col style="width:25px" />
<col style="width:20px" span="3" />
</colgroup>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>col1</td>
<td>col2</td>
<td>col3</td>
<td>col4</td>
<td>col5</td>
<td>col6</td>
<td>col7</td>
<td>col8</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
This works especially well for large tables, because the browser only needs to read the <colgroup> element to know exactly how the entire table should be laid out, without needing to calculate widths based on individual cell styles.

Answer 2

You have to use:
<td width="20">
or
<td style="width: 20px">

Answer 3

You should the attribute width without the unit px. Probably there are some modern browsers that accept the attribute with the units, but is not the correct way!
You have a similar issue in this another Stackoverflow case:

Answer 4

The width property does not support px for td, if you want to write the width in px, you need to provide css as below
<td style="width: 20px">

Answer 5

Seems like works as intended for me. please check the below fiddle.
.tableStyle{
table-layout:fixed;
margin: 0 auto; width: 960px;
}
http://jsfiddle.net/9x56E/

Answer 6

suggest such an option
HTML
<table class="tableStyle">
<tr>
<td>col1</td>
<td>col2</td>
<td>col3</td>
<td>col4</td>
<td>col5</td>
<td>col6</td>
<td>col7</td>
<td>col8</td>
</tr>
</table>
CSS
.tableStyle{
table-layout:fixed;
margin: 0 auto; width: 960px;
background: #ddd;
}
td:nth-child(1n) {
width: 20px;
background: #876342;
}
td:nth-child(3n+1) {
width: 100px;
}
demo

Answer 7

Instead of putting the width on the td, try adding it to the th using css.
For example,
HTML
<table>
<tr>
<th class="column-1">Heading 1</th>
<th class="column-2">Heading 2</th>
<th class="column-3">Heading 3</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>TD 1</td>
<td>TD 2</td>
<td>TD 3</td>
</tr>
</table>
CSS
.column-1 {
width: 50%;
}
.column-2 {
width: 25%;
}
.column-3 {
width: 25%;
}
I had the exact same problem and found this resource helpful:
https://css-tricks.com/fixing-tables-long-strings/