Border around specific rows in a table?

Detailed guide on implementing borders

Using outline to design equivalent of borders

As an alternative, the outline property in CSS might serve your purpose, which helps in dodging problems related to border collapsing and spacing. This is particularly effective with merged cells and where you want to prevent adjustments to the table's layout. Here's an illustration:

.specific-border {
  outline: thin solid black; /* Who needs a belt when you have outlines! */
}
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<table>
  <tbody class="specific-border">
    <tr>
      <td>Row 1 with border</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Row 2 with border</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>
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To cater to IE 6/7, display: table; should be applied to tr.

Creating sections within table with unique borders

Table rows can be assembled into distinct sections using the tbody tag and applying a unique class to each if required. This approach is handy when segregating rows into sections, and each section requires a dedicated border:

<table>
  <tbody class="section-border">
    <tr>
      <td>Section 1, Row 1</td>
    </tr>
    <!-- More rows in section 1 -->
  </tbody>
  <tbody class="section-border">
    <tr>
      <td>Section 2, Row 1</td>
    </tr>
    <!-- More rows in section 2 -->
  </tbody>
</table>


Managing borders on merged cells

When dealing with merged cells (rowspan and colspan), additional control is beneficial. Here, targeting individual rows using classes and managing borders on td elements can spare you the glitches. You can make usage of CSS's :nth-child() or :nth-of-type() to specifically target rows based on their order in the table:

tr:nth-child(even) td {
  border-bottom: 2px solid #000; /* Making even rows feel special! */
}
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Ensuring compatibility and managing cell spacing

It's always a good move to check how your table renders on various browsers. Also, consider assigning cellspacing="0" to your table for a more polished appearance. For specific styling, utilize colgroup, col or tbody depending on the scenario:

<table cellspacing="0">
  <colgroup>
    <col class="col-style" />  /* Styling specific columns like a pro! */
    <!-- More cols here -->
  </colgroup>
  <!-- And rows go here -->
</table>
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Enhancements and tips on border design

Handling borders in merged cells

When tables contain cells with rowspan or colspan, the borders need to be maneuvered cautiously:

td[ rowspan ] {
  border-bottom: none; /* Border styles: Merging made easy */
}
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Crafting visually appealing and seamless table appearances

To render a cleaner and more professional visual appeal of your table, you may:

• Ensure your table has border-collapse: collapse; so that adjacent cell borders don't overlap.
• Employ the outline property on tr to mimic a border, while avoiding an addition to layout dimensions.

Using background colors as an alternative to borders

Consider employing different background colors for tbody or tr as an alternative strategy to create a delineation amongst rows or sections within a table:

.highlight-background {
  background-color: #f0f0f0; /* When borders take a day off! */
}
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