Question

Edit: The selected answer contains a link to the working fiddle I was able to compose without the use of a nested table.

I want to semantically code a table in HTML with a layout like the picture below. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to find anything quite like it here on the network.

I have been able to force the look by manually setting cell widths, but I want to make sure the code I’m producing makes sense, and I don’t think that’s the case, because without manually setting the widths, standard rendering looks more like the following picture.

So far, the problematic code I have come up with looks like this:

<table>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th scope="col">Type of Loss Dollar</th>
      <th scope="col">Reserve Amount</th>
      <th scope="col">Paid Amount</th>
      <th scope="col">Total This Loss</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>

  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td colspan="3">
        <table>
          <tbody>
            <tr>
              <th scope="row">Medical</th>
              <td><input type="text" /></td>
              <td><input type="text" /></td>
            </tr><tr>
              <th scope="row">Indemnity</th>
              <td><input type="text" /></td>
              <td><input type="text" /></td>
            </tr><tr>
              <th scope="row">Expense</th>
              <td><input type="text" /></td>
              <td><input type="text" /></td>
            </tr>
          </tbody>
        </table>
      </td><td>
        TOTAL
      </td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

Answer 1

Without the images it’s a bit hard to say, but I think a better solution than nested tables would be to simply use the colspan and rowspan attributes.

Edit: Seeing the images I’d say you can most definitely achieve that using rowspan (and colspan the way you’re using it already).

Also, you don’t need to set the scope attribute if it’s “col”. It defaults to “col”.

Edit: As Marat Tanalin points out the scope attribute’s default value is actually auto which “makes the header cell apply to a set of cells selected based on context”. And which in my experience acts exactly the same as setting it to “col” (for screenreaders).

Edit: Here are two great articles on marking up advanced tables: http://www.456bereastreet.com/archive/200910/use_the_th_element_to_specify_row_and_column_headers_in_data_tables/ & http://www.456bereastreet.com/archive/200410/bring_on_the_tables/

Edit: Here is the fiddle exhibiting desired behavior (visually at least) and the source code of that fiddle follows:

<table border="1">
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>Status</th>
      <th>Type of Loss Dollar</th>
      <th>Reserve Amount</th>
      <th>Paid Amount</th>
      <th>Total This Loss</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>

  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td rowspan="3">Open</td>
      <td>Medical</td>
      <td><input type="text" /></td>
      <td><input type="text" /></td>
      <td rowspan="3">TOTAL</td>
    </tr><tr>
      <td>Indemnity</td>
      <td><input type="text" /></td>
      <td><input type="text" /></td>
    </tr><tr>
      <td>Expense</td>
      <td><input type="text" /></td>
      <td><input type="text" /></td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>