Merging cells in a table doesn't work as expected - html

Question

This is a table that I would like to achieve:
But I keep getting something like this:
This is what I've tried:
<table>
<tr>
<td rowspan="2">a</td>
<td colspan="2">b</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2">c</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2">d</td>
<td>e</td>
</tr>
</table>
Here's a link to JSFiddle with this (with some extra code for illustration): http://jsfiddle.net/2292D/

Answer 1

You need only vertical-align:middle and text-align:center
Apply this css to div
div {
display:table-cell; // Change
vertical-align:middle; //Change
border: 1px solid blue;
}
td {
border: 1px solid red;
text-align:center; // Change
}
Fiddle Demo

Answer 2

Good old days using table, use rowspan and colspan to achieve that kind of tablular structure, if you are using this for layout than don't, use div instead with float and CSS Positioning.
Demo
<table border="1" width="100%">
<tr>
<td rowspan="2" width="30%">a</td>
<td colspan="2">b</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2">c</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" width="70%">d</td>
<td>e</td>
</tr>
</table>

Answer 3

I guess you need 3 rows for that, try my code:
<table>
<tr>
<td rowspan="2"><div id="a">a</div></td>
<td colspan="2"><div id="b">b</div></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2"><div id="c">c</div></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2"><div id="d">d</div></td>
<td><div id="e">e</div></td>
</tr>
Here's my fiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/LLe5c/

Answer 4

apply your id on td
html:
<table>
<tr>
<td id="a" rowspan="2"><div>a</div></td>
<td id="b" colspan="2"><div >b</div></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td id="c" colspan="2"><div >c</div></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td id="d" colspan="2"><div >d</div></td>
<td id="e"><div >e</div></td>
</tr>
</table>

Answer 5

Here is the Solution
<table>
<tr>
<td rowspan="2">a</td>
<td colspan="2">b</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2">c</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2">d</td>
<td>e</td>
</tr>
</table>
<style>
table {
border-collapse: collapse;
border-spacing: 0;
}
td {
border: 1px solid red;
}
</style>