build/Please_Make_Your_Table_Headings_Sticky/index.html


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<h1 id="please-make-your-table-headings-sticky">Please Make Your Table Headings Sticky</h1>

<p>2024-02-23</p>

<p>I often stumble upon large data sets or table layouts across the web. When these tables contain hundreds of rows of content, things become problematic once you start to scroll&#8230;</p>

<p><a href="/public/videos/not-fixed-header-tables.mp4">Link to video example of standard table header</a></p>

<p>Look at that table header disappear! Now, if I scroll all the way down to item #300 (for example) will I remember what each column&#8217;s data is associated with? If this is my first time looking at this table - probably not. Luckily we can fix this (no pun intended!) with a tiny amount of CSS.</p>

<h2 id="sticky-header">Sticky Header</h2>

<p>Check it out:</p>

<p><a href="/public/videos/fixed-header-tables.mp4">Link to video example of fixed table header</a></p>

<p>Pretty awesome, right? It might look like magic but it&#8217;s actually very easy to implement. You only need to add 2 CSS properties on your <code>thead</code>:</p>

<pre><code>position: sticky;
top: 0;
</code></pre>

<p>That&#8217;s it! Best of all, <code>sticky</code> has <a href="https://caniuse.com/?search=sticky">~96% global support</a> which means this isn&#8217;t some &#8220;bleeding-edge&#8221; property and can safely support a ton of browsers. Not to mention the improved experience for your end-users!</p>

<p>You can view a live demo of this table on the <a href="https://codepen.io/bradleytaunt/pen/bGZyJBj">CodePen example pen</a>.</p>

<p>If you found this interesting, feel free to check out my other table-focused post: <a href="https://btxx.org/posts/tables/">Making Tables Responsive With Minimal CSS</a></p>
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