jQuery Grid Plugin - jqGrid

Each row does have an ID from 0-xx by default (top down). Or you can set it manually (json):

$responce->rows[0]['id'] = "this_row_id";
$responce->rows[0]['cell']=array("data_1", "data_2");

You can do it by XML too, check the docs for example.

Then use native jquery to fetch the cells in the row using children();

example:

alert($("#this_row_id").children().html()); // display first

alert($("#this_row_id").children().next().html()); // display second

alert($("#this_row_id").children().next().next().html()); // display third

Or use some foreach statement, whatever you like. Change/set classes too when you get the element you need.

If you're smart in setting it up, its shouldnt be too hard to create a function to create tooltips and get the content from AJAX. I you code each cell manually its gonna be a lot of work.