Can I make a TR clickable without java script? - html

Question

I currently have a java script solution to make an entire table row clickable. I need to support the non-java script folks so is this possible without java script?
I can add a a href tag to each cell but that seems like overkill and it also only lets the user click on the contents of the cell.
Any other alternatives to turn an entire table row into a hyperlink?

Answer 1

Not without putting a link inside each cell unfortunately, otherwise it's not valid markup.
You can still make it appear like the "row" is clickable though by making the links display as blocks so they take up the entire cell.
e.g. (jsFiddle)
<table>
<tr>
<td>Some text</td>
<td>more text</td>
<td>more text</td>
</tr>
</table>
tr:hover { background: #ddd; }
td { border: 1px solid #000; border-collapse: collapse; }
td a { display: block; padding: 5px 20px; }

Answer 2

I realise this is an old thread with a perfectly legit solution in Rich's answer. There is however also a way to do this without javascript AND without duplicating your link * the number of columns AND keeping your markup/CSS valid. It took me a while to figure out, so I thought I'd post it here for others that also happen to end up on this thread like I did.
Put the link in the first column:
<table class="search_results">
<tr>
<td>Some text</td>
<td>more text</td>
<td>more text</td>
</tr>
</table>
This is perfectly fine markup, so your only real issue is getting that link to span the width of your table. I did it like this using pretty standard CSS:
table.search_results a {position:absolute;display:block;width:98%;}
Change the width to whatever you want and in principle you are done and dusted. So that is all relatively easy, however if you, like me, have a fluid/responsive layout, and also some standard styling on your links plus some padding on your tables, you are going to need these rules (copied necessary from above and added extra).
table.search_results td:first-child {padding:0;}
table.search_results a {position:absolute;display:block;width:98%;max-width:1272px;font-weight:normal;color:#000;padding:.5em;}
table.search_results a:hover {background:none;}
table.search_results tr:hover {border-color:#25505b;background:#b5d6dd;}
To explain:
The first rule removes all padding on my first td ONLY. By default the padding on my td is .5em.
The second rule adds the same padding back on the link, otherwise you end up with misaligned cell contents. It also corrects a few standard styles I have on my a to ensure the columns all look the same. You could do this the other way around too (add the link styles to your td).
With the last two rules I get rid of the default hover effect on my links, then put it on the tr for any tables with the right class.
This works in the browsers I care about, but you should of course test in those you care about :) Hope I help save someone some minutes with this writeup!

Answer 3

Various browsers may or may not allow you to wrap the entire TR with an href, HOWEVER, even if the browser supports this, it is not valid (X)HTML and the results will vary from browser to browser in a very unreliable way (updates could change behavior as well).
Your best bet is to either use JS, or put an href inside of each cell.