Following a table row across the screen can sometimes be hard on your eyes.  I use CSS, and Javascript to color the rows alternately to make it easier on my visitors: 

 
<style type="text/css">
    .zebra1 th {
      background-color: #ffffcc;
      color: black;
    }
    .zebra1 td {
      background-color: #00ffff;
      color: black;
    }
    .zebra1 .tdata2 {
      background-color: #ccffff;
      color: black;
    }
</style>


<script type="text/javascript">
    function ZebraTables() {
      ZT_tables=document.getElementsByTagName('table');
      for (ZT_ix1=0; ZT_ix1<ZT_tables.length; ZT_ix1++) {
        ZT_table=ZT_tables[ZT_ix1];
        ZT_className=ZT_table['className'];
        if (ZT_className.indexOf('zebra1') > -1) {
          ZT_tBodies=ZT_table.tBodies;
          for (ZT_ix2=0; ZT_ix2<ZT_tBodies.length; ZT_ix2++) {
            ZT_tBody=ZT_tBodies[ZT_ix2];
            ZT_rows=ZT_tBody.rows;
            ZT_oddRow='true';
            for (ZT_ix3=0; ZT_ix3<ZT_rows.length; ZT_ix3++) {
              ZT_oddRow=!ZT_oddRow;
              if (ZT_oddRow) {
                ZT_row=ZT_rows[ZT_ix3];
                ZT_cells=ZT_row.cells
                for (ZT_ix4=0; ZT_ix4<ZT_cells.length; ZT_ix4++) {
                  ZT_cell=ZT_cells[ZT_ix4];
                  ZT_className4=ZT_cell.className;
                  ZT_bgColor=ZT_cell.getAttribute('bgColor');
                  if (!ZT_bgColor) { ZT_bgColor=''; }
                  if ((!ZT_className4) && (!ZT_bgColor)) {
                    ZT_cell.className='tdata2';
                  }
                } // end of cells
              } // end of oddRow
            } // end of rows
          } // end of tbodies
        } // end of 'zebra1' class
      } // end of tables
    } // ZebraTables
    window.onload=ZebraTables;
</script>

-------------------------------------------------------

<table class="zebra1" border="1">
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>Column 1</th>
      <th>Column 2</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>value 1-1</td>
      <td>value 1-2</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>value 2-1</td>
      <td>value 2-2</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>value 3-1</td>
      <td>value 3-2</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

The above code produces this table: 

Column 1 Column 2
value 1-1 value 1-2
value 2-1 value 2-2
value 3-1 value 3-2