Tables with regular cells

Offline MediaWiki Code Editor

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Tables with Regular Cells

Assistant to build tables with regular cells and insert it into pages.

A table is an arrangement of columns and rows that organizes and positions data. Tables can be created on Wikipedia pages using special wikitext syntax, and many different styles and tricks can be used to customize them. Consider using a multi- column list when appropriate.

Tables with regular cells

The tables with regular cells are those tables where the total number of cells is the product of the number of rows x the number of columns. A regular table of 5 rows x 5 columns has 25 cells.

To create tables using this assistant you do not need to know the sintax. Just enter the table data and the assistant will generate the wikicode to produce tables with the typical appearance of tables in Wikipedia. The default features of the tables you can produce with this assistant are the following:

· Table size (% in relation to page width)

· Table title in bold type.

· The size of the cells is auto-adjusted to the content.

· Column headings and row headings centered and in bold type.

· Cells with thin borders and text aligned to the left

· Cells text vertically centered.

· Cell backgrounds in a light gray shades

· Up to 10 columns

· Up to 50 rows.

The assistant optionally allows to customize:

· Alignment of the title and cell content

· The proportional width of the columns.

If the proportional width of each column is not fixed, it is automatically adjusted to the content.

It is uncommon but not rare to see in Wikipedia regular tables with more than 10 columns and 50 rows, and the assistant is not able to build bigger tables. But if you pay a little attention to the generated wikitext you can manually add the necessary code to increase the size of your tables, if necessary.

Table alignment

By default centered tables float in the center of the pages, with no text at both sides. This centered position is particularly convenient for wide tables occupying most (or all) of the page width. But narrow tables look well aligned to one side. When a table is aligned to one side of the page, the surrounding text flows through the opposite side. This alignment is convenient in the case of narrow (and long) tables, to avoid an excess of blank space in the page.

Table title

Table title is centered by default, but you can optionally align the title to the left or to the right.

Table headings

All tables created by this assistant have column headings (255 characters max.). This means that the first table row is reserved to the column headings. This headings are centered and in bold type by default, with a background grayish shade of a more intense color than the rest of the cells.

By default, the tables generated with this assistant do not have row headings. But you have the option to reserve the first column for row headings. If you choose this option the first column of data will be the second column.

Alignment of the cell content

By default, the cell content is aligned to the left, except headings, which are centered. But the assistant offers the option to center the content of data cells.

Cell content is vertically centered by default. If the content of the different cells is very uneven you might prefer to align vertically the content in some cells. To do this, go to the generated wikicode and add the string style="vertical-align: top;" to the code line preceding the column:

|- style="vertical-align: top;" | Columns text

Doing this, the content of all the cells of this column will be vertically aligned to the top.

Column headings

Column headings are always required by the assistant. It is not required to fix the proportional width (%) of each column, because the size of the cells is automatically adjusted to their content. But if the cell content is very unbalanced, some of the columns might appear too much narrow. That is the reason why it might be advisable to fix the width.

Table cells

When you are entering data, be sure to fill the columns from left to right, not letting empty columns. Otherwise you might obtain odd results.

Generate code and insert table

When you had entered the table data, click on the command button <Generate code> and the wikicode will appear in the code window. Then click on the command button <Insert table> to close the assistant and insert the table code into the Edit window.

The generated code -but not the table title- will be saved until you restart the assistant clicking on the command button <Blank table> to build a new table.

Error inserting a table

If you forgot to select the point of insertion in the Edit window, an error message will make you note the omission. When this happens, the Assistant for tables is temporarily hidden until you place the cursor at the point of insertion and reopen the assistant, or you close the Edit window. In any case you do not need to enter table data again (except table title), because table data will always persist until the next time you open the assistant.

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