HTML Concepts: Indicators for Layout Tables
Post from September 13, 2021, filed under Web Development (feed).
You use tables for data, and therefore not for layout purposes (as was popular in the past). But how would you recognize a layout table? That’s what we’re looking at today in “HTML Concepts.”
While it may be easy for you and me to tell when a table is used inappropriately, it’s a different story for a user agent. The HTML specification covers this problem in its section on the table
element.
First, the spec notes how in order to navigate a table, user agents “are encouraged to find heuristics to determine which tables actually contain data and which are merely being used for layout.”
Then it offers a few heuristics, but not without making clear that these are not precise, how they are merely “suggested as possible indicators.” Keep this in mind when looking at what are deemed technical indicators for layout tables:
Code Characteristic(s) | Interpretation |
---|---|
role attribute with a value of presentation |
Probably a layout table |
border attribute with a value of 0 (non-conforming) |
Probably a layout table |
cellspacing and cellpadding attributes with a value of 0 (non-conforming) |
Probably a layout table |
caption , thead , or th elements |
Probably a non-layout table |
headers and scope attributes |
Probably a non-layout table |
border attribute (non-conforming) with a value other than 0 |
Probably a non-layout table |
Visible borders set using CSS | Probably a non-layout table |
summary attribute |
Unclear, as “both layout and non-layout tables have historically been given this attribute” |
While we can tell by its contents whether a table is used for layout, these are ways to tell from the code. Fortunately, layout tables are largely a thing from the past, and for a modern web developer, knowledge of technical layout table indicators is of little practical value. But—now you know.
About Me

I’m Jens, and I’m an engineering lead and author. I’ve worked as a technical lead for Google, I’m close to W3C and WHATWG, and I write and review books for O’Reilly. I love trying things, sometimes including philosophy, art, and adventure. Here on meiert.com I share some of my views and experiences.
If you have a question or suggestion about what I write, please leave a comment (if available) or a message. Thank you!
Read More
Maybe this is interesting to you, too:
- Next: Not Releasing Late on Fridays, a Matter of Courtesy
- Previous: 5 Eleventy Tweaks That Make My Sites Better (and Maybe Yours)
- More under Web Development, or from 2021
- Most popular posts
Looking for a way to comment? Comments have been disabled, unfortunately.

Get a good look at web development? Try The Web Development Glossary (2020). With explanations and definitions for literally thousands of terms from Web Development and related fields, building on Wikipedia as well as the MDN Web Docs. Available at Apple Books, Kobo, Google Play Books, and Leanpub.