Making a Table Row clickable

Question

I wonder what the best way to make an entire tr clickable would be?

The most common (and only?) solution seems to be using JavaScript, by using onclick="javascript:document.location.href('bla.htm');" (not to forget: Setting a proper cursor with onmouseover/onmouseout).

While that works, it is a pity that the target URL is not visible in the status bar of a browser, unlike normal links.

So I just wonder if there is any room for optimization? Is it possible to display the URL that will be navigated to in the status bar of the browser? Or is there even a non-JavaScript way to make a tr clickable?

Answer 1

If you're already relying on javascript for the click, then you can also use javascript to show the url in status area, change the cursor, or do other things so it looks more like a link. Of course, the browser may ignore the code that sets the status area.

Answer 2

I realise this is an old thread with a perfectly legit solution in Alice'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><a href="#">Some text</a></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!