Absolutely Positioned Table in a Table Cell Rendered Incorrectly

• Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 4.01, 4.01 Service Pack 1, 4.01 Service Pack 2, 5 for Windows 95
• Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 4.01 Service Pack 2, 5 for Windows 98
• Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 4.01, 4.01 Service Pack 1, 4.01 Service Pack 2, 5 for Windows NT 4.0
• Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 4.01, 5 for UNIX on HPUX
• Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 4.01, 5 for UNIX on Sun Solaris
• Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 4.01, 5 for Windows 3.1
• Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 4.01, 5 for Windows NT 3.51

SYMPTOMS

Web pages that contain nested tables (a second table within a table cell) may not be rendered correctly when you are using absolute positioning for the inner table.

CAUSE

This behavior can occur if the nested (inner) table is in one of the outer table cells.

RESOLUTION

This behavior is correct according to the specifications for Cascading Style Sheets. The contents of an outer table cell inherit the settings of the cell, including such things as width. The sizing parent of a nested table is an outer table cell. Outer cells set the _sizeParent value for the contents of the cell, which forces the inner table to be rendered with the minimum width as opposed to the maximum width of the table cell.

In other words, according to the CSS specifications, the inner table width does not affect the size of the outer cell, but the size of the outer cell affect the size of the inner table width.

To work around this behavior, either change the "style=position:absolute" attribute of the nested table, or move the nested table to a different cell.

STATUS

This behavior is by design.

MORE INFORMATION

CSS2 specifications are available at the following Web site:

http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/

Additional query words:

Keywords : kbprg msiew95 msient msiew31 msieunix msiew98
Version : UNIX:4.01,5; WINDOWS:4.01,4.01 Service Pack 1,5
Platform : UNIX WINDOWS
Issue type : kbprb