Table Loading Speed

How does rowspan figure in?

[MatthewHSE]

I've read a little here about how to increase the speed with which tables download, or more specifically, how to make at least some readable content show up quickly instead of making the user wait for the whole table to download then show up all at once. My understanding is that a browser reads table rows and displays them one at a time. In that case, what is the result for a table that has a long column at the right-hand side of the table, spanning multiple rows?

Since the long cell is actually part of the table's top row, will the browser wait until all of the long cell loads before it begins loading any of the table's second row?

Any facts (or opinions!) on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Matthew

[martinibuster]

You just look at the code. If I'm not mistaken, a td at the right hand side could very well be at the bottom of the code, the last thing loaded.

Basically, you want to keep away from multiple nested tables. The more tables and nests you got going the more cpu's it takes on the user's computer- the longer it takes. Just look at the code, and if it's full of empty <td>'s and looks a bit convoluted, it may be take a bit longer for the user's computer to render. Simple is better.

Also, if the whole page exists within one giant table, then the page won't show up bit by bit but rather will hang until the the entire table is rendered.

Of course, there are many around here who would shower you in a hail of tomatoes for not using css, but that's for another thread.

;)