jQuery ReStable – Making Tables Responsive
Recently, I have been working on a website that included a lot of tables in the content. My main issue with the tables was that I wanted them to look beautiful on every device. As you know tables can be a real pain in the neck when it comes to Responsive design. I have researched what are the solutions for achieving a great-looking tables and while researching I found jQuery ReStable plugin which makes the tables responsive easily. I liked also the fact that it is a very simple and lightweight plugin and the trick with it is that converts the tables into ul lists.
Here is how it works:
Include the jQuery and the ReStable plugin into your <head></head> or in the footer:
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://code.jquery.com/jquery-latest.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="jquery.restable.min.js"></script> <link rel="stylesheet" href="jquery.restable.min.css">
Let’s imagine that this is your table
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<td>Period</td>
<td>Full Board</td>
<td>Half Board</td>
<td>Bed and Breakfast</td>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>01/10/12 - 02/10/12</td>
<td>20 €</td>
<td>30 €</td>
<td>40 €</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>03/10/12 - 04/10/12</td>
<td>40 €</td>
<td>50 €</td>
<td>60 €</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>05/10/12 - 06/10/12</td>
<td>70 €</td>
<td>80 €</td>
<td>90 €</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
To make it work you need to trigger it by include this simple lines (this code will be applied to all the tables)
$(window).ready(function () {
$.ReStable();
});
To make it work only for certain tables:
$(window).ready(function () {
$('.mytable').ReStable();
});
Some more control on you tables:
$('.mytable').ReStable({
rowHeaders: true, // Table has row headers?
maxWidth: 480 // Size to which the table become responsive
});
EXAMPLE 1 – RESPONSIVE PRICELIST TABLE (WITH ROW HEADERS)
$('#table1').ReStable();
EXAMPLE 2 - RESPONSIVE COLUMNS TABLE (WITHOUT ROW HEADERS)
$('#table2').ReStable({
rowHeaders : false
});
