Style the first column of a table differently

Question

If I have a table with two columns, how do I specify a padding or any other css so that it is applied just for the first column of

Answer 1

If you've to support IE7, a more compatible solution is:

/* only the cells with no cell before (aka the first one) */
td {
    padding-left: 20px;
}
/* only the cells with at least one cell before (aka all except the first one) */
td + td {
    padding-left: 0;
}

Also works fine with li; general sibling selector ~ may be more suitable with mixed elements like a heading h1 followed by paragraphs AND a subheading and then again other paragraphs.