Table with fixed header and fixed column on pure css

Question

I need to create a html table (or something similar looking) with a fixed header and a fixed first column.

Every solution I've seen so far uses Javascript or jQuery to set scrollTop/scrollLeft, but it doesn't work smoothly on mobile browsers, so I'm looking for a pure CSS solution.

I found a solution for a fixed column here: jsfiddle.net/C8Dtf/20/ but I don't know how I can enhance it to make the header fixed too.

I want it to work on webkit browsers or use some css3 features, but I repeat, I don't want to use Javascript for scrolling.

EDIT: This is example of the behaviour I want to achieve: https://web.archive.org/web/20130829032141/http://datatables.net/release-datatables/extras/FixedColumns/css_size.html

Answer 1

An actual pure CSS solution with a fixed header row and first column

I had to create a table with both a fixed header and a fixed first column using pure CSS and none of the answers here were quite what I wanted.

The position: sticky property supports both sticking to the top (as I've seen it used the most) and to the side in modern versions of Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. This can be combined with a div that has the overflow: scroll property to give you a table with fixed headers that can be placed anywhere on your page:

Place your table in a container:

<div class="container">
  <table></table>
</div>

Use overflow: scroll on your container to enable scrolling:

div.container {
  overflow: scroll;
}

As Dagmar pointed out in the comments, the container also requires a max-width and a max-height.

Use position: sticky to have table cells stick to the edge and top, right, or left to choose which edge to stick to:

thead th {
  position: -webkit-sticky; /* for Safari */
  position: sticky;
  top: 0;
}

tbody th {
  position: -webkit-sticky; /* for Safari */
  position: sticky;
  left: 0;
}

As MarredCheese mentioned in the comments, if your first column contains <td> elements instead of <th> elements, you can use tbody td:first-child in your CSS instead of tbody th

To have the header in the first column stick to the left, use:

thead th:first-child {
  left: 0;
  z-index: 1;
}

/* Use overflow:scroll on your container to enable scrolling: */

div {
  max-width: 400px;
  max-height: 150px;
  overflow: scroll;
}


/* Use position: sticky to have it stick to the edge
 * and top, right, or left to choose which edge to stick to: */

thead th {
  position: -webkit-sticky; /* for Safari */
  position: sticky;
  top: 0;
}

tbody th {
  position: -webkit-sticky; /* for Safari */
  position: sticky;
  left: 0;
}


/* To have the header in the first column stick to the left: */

thead th:first-child {
  left: 0;
  z-index: 2;
}


/* Just to display it nicely: */

thead th {
  background: #000;
  color: #FFF;
  /* Ensure this stays above the emulated border right in tbody th {}: */
  z-index: 1;
}

tbody th {
  background: #FFF;
  border-right: 1px solid #CCC;
  /* Browsers tend to drop borders on sticky elements, so we emulate the border-right using a box-shadow to ensure it stays: */
  box-shadow: 1px 0 0 0 #ccc;
}

table {
  border-collapse: collapse;
}

td,
th {
  padding: 0.5em;
}

<div>
  <table>
    <thead>
      <tr>
        <th></th>
        <th>headheadhead</th>
        <th>headheadhead</th>
        <th>headheadhead</th>
        <th>headheadhead</th>
        <th>headheadhead</th>
        <th>headheadhead</th>
        <th>headheadhead</th>
      </tr>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
      <tr>
        <th>head</th>
        <td>body</td>
        <td>body</td>
        <td>body</td>
        <td>body</td>
        <td>body</td>
        <td>body</td>
        <td>body</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <th>head</th>
        <td>body</td>
        <td>body</td>
        <td>body</td>
        <td>body</td>
        <td>body</td>
        <td>body</td>
        <td>body</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <th>head</th>
        <td>body</td>
        <td>body</td>
        <td>body</td>
        <td>body</td>
        <td>body</td>
        <td>body</td>
        <td>body</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <th>head</th>
        <td>body</td>
        <td>body</td>
        <td>body</td>
        <td>body</td>
        <td>body</td>
        <td>body</td>
        <td>body</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <th>head</th>
        <td>body</td>
        <td>body</td>
        <td>body</td>
        <td>body</td>
        <td>body</td>
        <td>body</td>
        <td>body</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <th>head</th>
        <td>body</td>
        <td>body</td>
        <td>body</td>
        <td>body</td>
        <td>body</td>
        <td>body</td>
        <td>body</td>
      </tr>
    </tbody>
  </table>
</div>

https://jsfiddle.net/qwubvg9m/1/