<thead>: The THEAD Element
Last updated: 2026-10-13
<thead>The THEAD Element
The table header block wrapping header rows (tr), repeated on each printed page of a long table.
| Category | Tables |
|---|---|
| Content Model | Flow content |
| Allowed Parents | Any element that accepts flow content |
| Content Tag | Yes — requires closing </thead> tag |
| Status | Standard |
📝 Syntax
<thead>
<tr><th>...</th></tr>
</thead>▶ Example
Edit the code below and see the live result in the playground:
🌐 Browser Support
| Browser |  Chrome |
 Edge |
 Firefox |
 Safari |
 Opera |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| <thead> | ✓ v1 | ✓ v12 | ✓ v1 | ✓ v1 | ✓ v1 |
| Supported in all major browsers | |||||
Tip： Place thead after caption/colgroup and before tbody/tfoot; it may only contain tr.
❓ FAQ
QIs thead required?
ASimple tables may skip it, but writing it is recommended: complete three-part semantics (header/body/footer), separately styleable, and thead is what gives long tables a chance to repeat headers in print. Screen-reader recognition is also more stable.
QMust cells inside thead be th?
AStrongly recommended — thead plus th makes the full header semantics: thead is the structural group, th the cell role. Putting td inside thead is grammatical but self-contradictory, and screen readers lose their column-header announcements.
QCan there be multiple thead elements?
ANo — each
<table> has at most one <thead> (tbody and tfoot are also singular). A double-row header is one thead containing multiple tr, organized with colspan/rowspan per row.🏷️ Related Tags
💡 Related Cases
More case studies coming soon — check back later.
📚 Related Tutorials
