--- title: Highlighting columns in HTML tables | daily.dev description: The `col` and `colgroup` HTML elements can be used to style entire table columns with CSS, even though HTML tables are structurally row-based. By adding a... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/highlighting-columns-in-html-tables-pfcbhyghu twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Highlighting columns in HTML tables | daily.dev og:description: The `col` and `colgroup` HTML elements can be used to style entire table columns with CSS, even though HTML tables are structurally row-based. By adding a... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/highlighting-columns-in-html-tables-pfcbhyghu og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/pfCbHygHU.png og:image:alt: Highlighting columns in HTML tables og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Highlighting columns in HTML tables **[Manuel Matuzović](https://daily.dev/sources/matuzo)** · 3 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary The `col` and `colgroup` HTML elements can be used to style entire table columns with CSS, even though HTML tables are structurally row-based. By adding a class to a `col` element, background styles apply to all cells in that column. More interestingly, adding `id` attributes to `col` elements and using the CSS `:target` pseudo-class lets users click column headings to highlight a specific column — and the highlighted state is shareable via URL fragment. Accessibility caveats are noted: links in table headings need better labels, and this technique is visual-only with no semantic column highlighting. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Accessible \(I Think\) Split-Cell Table Headers](https://daily.dev/posts/accessible-i-think-split-cell-table-headers-pimkau8of) · Eric Meyer — meyerweb.com · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [The different ways to use CSS :has\(\), with examples](https://daily.dev/posts/the-different-ways-to-use-css-has-with-examples-olvwfjtu1) · LogRocket · 10 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#css](https://daily.dev/tags/css), [#html](https://daily.dev/tags/html) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/highlighting-columns-in-html-tables-pfcbhyghu) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Highlighting columns in HTML tables","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/highlighting-columns-in-html-tables-pfcbhyghu","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/highlighting-columns-in-html-tables-pfcbhyghu"},"datePublished":"2026-06-22T14:42:48.998Z","dateModified":"2026-06-22T14:45:36.592Z","description":"The `col` and `colgroup` HTML elements can be used to style entire table columns with CSS, even though HTML tables are structurally row-based. 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