Basic table styling in Bootsrap - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Basic Table Styling with Bootstrap

📖 Scenario: You are creating a simple webpage to display a list of fruits and their colors in a neat table. You want to use Bootstrap to make the table look clean and professional.

🎯 Goal: Build a webpage with a Bootstrap styled table showing fruit names and their colors.

📋 What You'll Learn

Use Bootstrap 5 CSS from CDN

Create a table with two columns: Fruit and Color

Add Bootstrap classes to style the table with borders and stripes

Make sure the page uses semantic HTML and is responsive

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Tables are common on websites to show data like product lists, schedules, or reports. Using Bootstrap makes tables look good quickly without writing custom CSS.

💼 Career

Knowing how to use Bootstrap for tables is useful for front-end web developers and designers to create professional and responsive layouts efficiently.

1

Create the basic HTML structure with a table

Create a basic HTML5 page with lang="en", charset="UTF-8", and a viewport meta tag. Inside the <body>, add a <table> element with a thead containing two headers: Fruit and Color. Add a tbody with three rows: Apple with color Red, Banana with color Yellow, and Grape with color Purple.

Bootsrap

    
    
    Fruit Table


    
        
    

Hint

Remember to use <thead> for headers and <tbody> for the data rows.

2

Add Bootstrap CSS link

Add the Bootstrap 5 CSS CDN link inside the <head> section, before the <title> tag. Use the href https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/bootstrap@5.3.0/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css and set rel="stylesheet".

Bootsrap

    
    
    
    Fruit Table


    
        
            
                Fruit
                Color
            
        
        
            
                Apple
                Red
            
            
                Banana
                Yellow
            
            
                Grape
                Purple
            
        
    

Hint

Use a <link> tag with rel="stylesheet" and the Bootstrap CDN URL as href.

3

Add Bootstrap classes to style the table

Add the Bootstrap classes table, table-bordered, and table-striped to the <table> element to add borders and striped rows.

Bootsrap

    
    
    
    Fruit Table


    
        
        
            
                Fruit
                Color
            
        
        
            
                Apple
                Red
            
            
                Banana
                Yellow
            
            
                Grape
                Purple
            
        
    

Hint

Add all three classes inside the class attribute separated by spaces.

4

Wrap the table in a responsive container

Wrap the <table> inside a <div> with the Bootstrap class table-responsive to make the table scroll horizontally on small screens.

Bootsrap

    
    
    
    Fruit Table


    
    
        
            
                Fruit
                Color
            
        
        
            
                Apple
                Red
            
            
                Banana
                Yellow
            
            
                Grape
                Purple
            
        
    

Hint

Put the entire <table> inside a <div> with class table-responsive.

Practice

1. What does adding class="table" to a <table> element in Bootstrap do?

easy

A. Adds sorting functionality to the table columns

B. Makes the table responsive automatically

C. Applies basic Bootstrap styling to the table for better appearance

D. Changes the table background color to blue

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand the role of class="table"

   This class applies Bootstrap's default styling to tables, improving their look with padding, borders, and font styles.

2. Step 2: Identify what it does not do

   It does not make tables responsive, add sorting, or change background color by default.

3. Final Answer:

   Applies basic Bootstrap styling to the table for better appearance -> Option C

4. Quick Check:

   Bootstrap table class = basic styling [OK]

Hint: Remember: table class styles tables simply [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Thinking it makes tables responsive
• Assuming it adds sorting features
• Believing it changes background color automatically

2. Which of the following is the correct way to add striped rows to a Bootstrap table?

easy

A. <table class="table-striped-table">

B. <table class="table-striped">

C. <table class="striped">

D. <table class="table table-striped">

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand Bootstrap table classes

   The base class table must always be included for Bootstrap table styling to work.

2. Step 2: Add table-striped alongside table

   To get striped rows, both classes must be present: class="table table-striped".

3. Final Answer:

   <table class="table table-striped"> -> Option D

4. Quick Check:

   Base table + table-striped = striped rows [OK]

Hint: Always include table class first for Bootstrap tables [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Using only table-striped without table
• Swapping class order incorrectly
• Using wrong class names like striped

3. What will be the visual effect of this code snippet?

<table class="table table-bordered">
  <tr><td>Cell 1</td><td>Cell 2</td></tr>
</table>

medium

A. Table with no borders around cells

B. Table with borders around each cell

C. Table with striped rows

D. Table with hover effect on rows

Solution

1. Step 1: Identify the class table-bordered

   This class adds borders around all table cells and the table itself.

2. Step 2: Confirm base styling with table

   The table class applies Bootstrap's basic styling, so the table looks neat with borders.

3. Final Answer:

   Table with borders around each cell -> Option B

4. Quick Check:

   table-bordered = borders on cells [OK]

Hint: Borders come from table-bordered class [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Confusing table-bordered with table-striped
• Expecting hover effect without table-hover
• Ignoring the need for base table class

4. You wrote this code but the table has no Bootstrap styling:

<table class="table-striped">
  <tr><td>Data</td></tr>
</table>

What is the error?

medium

A. Missing table class alongside table-striped

B. Wrong tag used instead of <table>

C. Class name should be striped-table

D. Bootstrap CSS file is not linked

Solution

1. Step 1: Check the classes on the table

   The class table-striped alone does not apply Bootstrap styling; it must be combined with table.

2. Step 2: Confirm the correct class usage

   Correct usage is class="table table-striped" to get both base styling and striped rows.

3. Final Answer:

   Missing table class alongside table-striped -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   Always include table class for Bootstrap tables [OK]

Hint: Always pair table-striped with table [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Using only table-striped without table
• Assuming wrong class names
• Not linking Bootstrap CSS (though not asked here)

5. You want a table with basic Bootstrap styling, striped rows, and hover effect on rows. Which is the correct class attribute?

hard

A. class="table table-striped table-hover"

B. class="table-striped table-hover"

C. class="table-hover table-striped"

D. class="table table-hover-striped"

Solution

1. Step 1: Include the base table class

   This is required for any Bootstrap table styling to work.

2. Step 2: Add table-striped and table-hover classes

   These add striped rows and hover effect respectively. Both must be separate classes.

3. Step 3: Check class order and spelling

   Order does not matter but all classes must be spelled correctly and separated by spaces.

4. Final Answer:

   class="table table-striped table-hover" -> Option A

5. Quick Check:

   Base table + stripes + hover = class="table table-striped table-hover" [OK]

Hint: Combine all classes with spaces, always include table [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Omitting the base table class
• Combining classes incorrectly like table-hover-striped
• Wrong class order or missing spaces