HTML table with fixed headers?

Question

Is there a cross-browser CSS/JavaScript technique to display a long HTML table such that the column headers stay fixed on-screen and do not scroll with the table body. Think of the "freeze panes" effect in Microsoft Excel.

I want to be able to scroll through the contents of the table, but to always be able to see the column headers at the top.

Answer 1

I also created a plugin that addresses this issue. My project - jQuery.floatThead has been around for over 4 years now and is very mature.

It requires no external styles and does not expect your table to be styled in any particular way. It supports Internet Explorer9+ and Firefox/Chrome.

Currently (2018-05) it has:

405 commits and 998 stars on GitHub

---

Many (not all) of the answers here are quick hacks that may have solved the problem one person was having, but will work not for every table.

Some of the other plugins are old and probably work great with Internet Explorer, but will break on Firefox and Chrome.

Answer 2

Here is a jQuery plugin for fixed table headers. It allows the entire page to scroll, freezing the header when it reaches the top. It works well with Twitter Bootstrap tables.

GitHub repository: https://github.com/oma/table-fixed-header

It does not scroll only table content. Look to other tools for that, as one of these other answers. You decide what fits your case the best.

Answer 3

I like Maximillian Hils' answer but I had a some issues:

1. the transform doesn't work in Edge or IE unless you apply it to the th
2. the header flickers during scrolling in Edge and IE
3. my table is loaded using ajax, so I wanted to attach to the window scroll event rather than the wrapper's scroll event

To get rid of the flicker, I use a timeout to wait until the user has finished scrolling, then I apply the transform - so the header is not visible during scrolling.

I have also written this using jQuery, one advantage of that being that jQuery should handle vendor-prefixes for you

    var isScrolling, lastTop, lastLeft, isLeftHidden, isTopHidden;

    //Scroll events don't bubble https://stackoverflow.com/a/19375645/150342
    //so can't use $(document).on("scroll", ".table-container-fixed", function (e) {
    document.addEventListener('scroll', function (event) {
        var $container = $(event.target);
        if (!$container.hasClass("table-container-fixed"))
            return;    

        //transform needs to be applied to th for Edge and IE
        //in this example I am also fixing the leftmost column
        var $topLeftCell = $container.find('table:first > thead > tr > th:first');
        var $headerCells = $topLeftCell.siblings();
        var $columnCells = $container
           .find('table:first > tbody > tr > td:first-child, ' +
                 'table:first > tfoot > tr > td:first-child');

        //hide the cells while returning otherwise they show on top of the data
        if (!isLeftHidden) {
            var currentLeft = $container.scrollLeft();
            if (currentLeft < lastLeft) {
                //scrolling left
                isLeftHidden = true;
                $topLeftCell.css('visibility', 'hidden');
                $columnCells.css('visibility', 'hidden');
            }
            lastLeft = currentLeft;
        }

        if (!isTopHidden) {
            var currentTop = $container.scrollTop();
            if (currentTop < lastTop) {
                //scrolling up
                isTopHidden = true;
                $topLeftCell.css('visibility', 'hidden');
                $headerCells.css('visibility', 'hidden');
            }
            lastTop = currentTop;
        }

        // Using timeout to delay transform until user stops scrolling
        // Clear timeout while scrolling
        window.clearTimeout(isScrolling);

        // Set a timeout to run after scrolling ends
        isScrolling = setTimeout(function () {
            //move the table cells. 
            var x = $container.scrollLeft();
            var y = $container.scrollTop();

            $topLeftCell.css('transform', 'translate(' + x + 'px, ' + y + 'px)');
            $headerCells.css('transform', 'translateY(' + y + 'px)');
            $columnCells.css('transform', 'translateX(' + x + 'px)');

            isTopHidden = isLeftHidden = false;
            $topLeftCell.css('visibility', 'inherit');
            $headerCells.css('visibility', 'inherit');
            $columnCells.css('visibility', 'inherit');
        }, 100);

    }, true);

The table is wrapped in a div with the class table-container-fixed.

.table-container-fixed{
    overflow: auto;
    height: 400px;
}

I set border-collapse to separate because otherwise we lose borders during translation, and I remove the border on the table to stop content appearing just above the cell where the border was during scrolling.

.table-container-fixed > table {
   border-collapse: separate;
   border:none;
}

I make the th background white to cover the cells underneath, and I add a border that matches the table border - which is styled using Bootstrap and scrolled out of view.

 .table-container-fixed > table > thead > tr > th {
        border-top: 1px solid #ffffd !important;
        background-color: white;        
        z-index: 10;
        position: relative;/*to make z-index work*/
    }

            .table-container-fixed > table > thead > tr > th:first-child {
                z-index: 20;
            }

.table-container-fixed > table > tbody > tr > td:first-child,
.table-container-fixed > table > tfoot > tr > td:first-child {
    background-color: white;        
    z-index: 10;
    position: relative;
}

Answer 4

Use the latest version of jQuery, and include the following JavaScript code.

$(window).scroll(function(){
  $("id of the div element").offset({top:$(window).scrollTop()});
});

Answer 5

Here is an improved answer to the one posted by Maximilian Hils.

This one works in Internet Explorer 11 with no flickering whatsoever:

var headerCells = tableWrap.querySelectorAll("thead td");
for (var i = 0; i < headerCells.length; i++) {
    var headerCell = headerCells[i];
    headerCell.style.backgroundColor = "silver";
}
var lastSTop = tableWrap.scrollTop;
tableWrap.addEventListener("scroll", function () {
    var stop = this.scrollTop;
    if (stop < lastSTop) {
        // Resetting the transform for the scrolling up to hide the headers
        for (var i = 0; i < headerCells.length; i++) {
            headerCells[i].style.transitionDelay = "0s";
            headerCells[i].style.transform = "";
        }
    }
    lastSTop = stop;
    var translate = "translate(0," + stop + "px)";
    for (var i = 0; i < headerCells.length; i++) {
        headerCells[i].style.transitionDelay = "0.25s";
        headerCells[i].style.transform = translate;
    }
});

Answer 6

Somehow I ended up with Position:Sticky working fine on my case:

table{
  width: 100%;
  border: collapse;
}

th{
    position: sticky;
    top: 0px;
    border: 1px solid black;
    background: #ff5722;
    color: #f5f5f5;
    font-weight: 600;
}
td{
    background: #d3d3d3;
    border: 1px solid black;
    color: #f5f5f5;
    font-weight: 600;
}

div{
  height: 150px
  overflow: auto;
  width: 100%
}

<div>
    <table>
        <thead>
            <tr>
                <th>header 1</th>
                <th>header 2</th>
                <th>header 3</th>
                <th>header 4</th>
                <th>header 5</th>
                <th>header 6</th>
                <th>header 7</th>
            </tr>
        </thead>
        <tbody>
            <tr>
                <td>data 1</td>
                <td>data 2</td>
                <td>data 3</td>
                <td>data 4</td>
                <td>data 5</td>
                <td>data 6</td>
                <td>data 7</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>data 1</td>
                <td>data 2</td>
                <td>data 3</td>
                <td>data 4</td>
                <td>data 5</td>
                <td>data 6</td>
                <td>data 7</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>data 1</td>
                <td>data 2</td>
                <td>data 3</td>
                <td>data 4</td>
                <td>data 5</td>
                <td>data 6</td>
                <td>data 7</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>data 1</td>
                <td>data 2</td>
                <td>data 3</td>
                <td>data 4</td>
                <td>data 5</td>
                <td>data 6</td>
                <td>data 7</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>data 1</td>
                <td>data 2</td>
                <td>data 3</td>
                <td>data 4</td>
                <td>data 5</td>
                <td>data 6</td>
                <td>data 7</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>data 1</td>
                <td>data 2</td>
                <td>data 3</td>
                <td>data 4</td>
                <td>data 5</td>
                <td>data 6</td>
                <td>data 7</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>data 1</td>
                <td>data 2</td>
                <td>data 3</td>
                <td>data 4</td>
                <td>data 5</td>
                <td>data 6</td>
                <td>data 7</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>data 1</td>
                <td>data 2</td>
                <td>data 3</td>
                <td>data 4</td>
                <td>data 5</td>
                <td>data 6</td>
                <td>data 7</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>data 1</td>
                <td>data 2</td>
                <td>data 3</td>
                <td>data 4</td>
                <td>data 5</td>
                <td>data 6</td>
                <td>data 7</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>data 1</td>
                <td>data 2</td>
                <td>data 3</td>
                <td>data 4</td>
                <td>data 5</td>
                <td>data 6</td>
                <td>data 7</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>data 1</td>
                <td>data 2</td>
                <td>data 3</td>
                <td>data 4</td>
                <td>data 5</td>
                <td>data 6</td>
                <td>data 7</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>data 1</td>
                <td>data 2</td>
                <td>data 3</td>
                <td>data 4</td>
                <td>data 5</td>
                <td>data 6</td>
                <td>data 7</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>data 1</td>
                <td>data 2</td>
                <td>data 3</td>
                <td>data 4</td>
                <td>data 5</td>
                <td>data 6</td>
                <td>data 7</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>data 1</td>
                <td>data 2</td>
                <td>data 3</td>
                <td>data 4</td>
                <td>data 5</td>
                <td>data 6</td>
                <td>data 7</td>
            </tr>
        </tbody>
    </table>
</div>