Tables

Tables are used for storing tabular data. Basically the equivalent of a spreadsheet.

Historically, before the div element and grid/flex were introduced, web developers often used tables to define the structure of their web pages. Now that these other techniques exists, it is a bad practice to use tables for this purpose,. They should only be used to store tabular data.

Organizing Data with Tables - Learn to Code HTML & CSS

HTML table basics - Learn web development | MDN

Here's an example of a table for the residents in a zoo. It has four columns, and a row for each type of animal.

Table element

The <table>element is the top-level HTML element required to define a table.

<table>
</table>

The <table>element has two child components.

Column headers

The <thead> element is used for specifying the column headers.

 <thead>
      <th>Type</th>
      <th>Location</th>
      <th>Number</th>
      <th>Residents</th>
  </thead>

Rows

The <tbody> element surrounds all of the rows, and then for each row, there is a <tr>, with <td> elements for each column in the row.

 <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>Lion</td>
      <td>NE</td>
      <td>4</td>
      <td>Dee, Zena, Faustino, Maxwell</td>
    </tr>
</tbody>

The <thead>and <tbody>elements are not required, but good practice, as the web browser uses them to enable scrolling of the table body independent of the header.

Here's a complete table element with one row of data.

  <table>
    <thead>
      <th>Type</th>
      <th>Location</th>
      <th>Number</th>
      <th>Residents</th>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
        <tr>
          <td>Lion</td>
          <td>NE</td>
          <td>4</td>
          <td>Dee, Zena, Faustino, Maxwell</td>
        </tr>
    </tbody>
  </table>

Check for understanding. Create a table to describe your family members, with columns list the name, sex, and age of each.