I want to zebra-stripe a html table without using any js stuff or writing server-side code to generate even/odd classes for table rows. Is it ever possible to do using raw css?
It is possible, with CSS3 selectors:
tr:nth-child(even) {
background-color: red;
}
tr:nth-child(odd) {
background-color: white;
}
According to caniuse.com, every browser supports it now.