Help:Tables: Difference between revisions

== Introduction ==

In Halopedia you can create a table by using the HTML code.  However, Halopedia offers a simpler way to create a table.  If you have a table in HTML that you want to convert to a wiki-table please refer to the [[Wikipedia:Help:Table#External links|Wiki-Table generators]].  

== Pipe syntax tutorial ==

The Wiki table using the | or pipe sign as a way to create a table.  Below is an example and explanation of how to create a table.

* The entire table is encased with curly brackets and a [[wikipedia:vertical bar|vertical bar]] character (a pipe).  So use <code>'''{|'''</code> to begin a table, and <code>'''|}'''</code> to end it.  Each one needs to be on its own line:  

  <nowiki>|}</nowiki>

The final table would display like this:

{| border="1"

|+ The table's caption

Both of these generate the same output.  Choose a style based on the amount of cells in each row and the total text inside each cell.

==== Wiki markup ====

{|  

| Cell 1, row 1  

|}

</nowiki></pre></blockquote>

{|  

| Cell 1, row 1 || Cell 2, row 1  

</nowiki></pre></blockquote>

==== What it looks like in your browser ====

{|  

| Cell 1, row 1  

===Multiplication table===

==== Wiki markup ====

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

|+Multiplication table

</nowiki></pre></blockquote>

==== What it looks like in your browser ====

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

|+Multiplication table

Two ways of specifying color of text and background for a single cell are as follows.  The first form is preferred:

==== Wiki markup ====

{|  

| style="background:red; color:white" | abc

</nowiki></pre></blockquote>

==== What it looks like in your browser ====

{|  

| style="background:red; color:white" | abc

Like other parameters, colors can also be specified for a whole row or the whole table; parameters for a row override the value for the table, and those for a cell override those for a row:

==== Wiki markup ====

{| style="background:yellow; color:green"

|-  

</nowiki></pre></blockquote>

==== What it looks like in your browser ====

{| style="background:yellow; color:green"

|-  

The width and height of the whole table can be specified, as well as the height of a row. To specify the width of a column one can specify the width of an arbitrary cell in it. If the width is not specified for all columns, and/or the height is not specified for all rows, then there is some ambiguity, and the result depends on the browser.  

==== Wiki markup ====

{| style="width:75%; height:200px" border="1"

|-  

</nowiki></pre></blockquote>

==== What it looks like in your browser ====

{| style="width:75%; height:200px" border="1"

|-  

====Setting your column widths====

If you wish to force column widths to your own requirements, rather than accepting the width of the widest text element in a column's cells, then follow this example.  Note that wrap-around of text is forced.

{| border="1" cellpadding="2"

!width="50"|Name

|}

</nowiki></pre></blockquote>

{| border="1" cellpadding="2"

!width="50"|Name

Here's a more advanced example, showing some more options available for making up tables. You can play with these settings in your own table to see what effect they have. Not all of these techniques may be appropriate in all cases; just because you can add colored backgrounds, for example, doesn't mean it's always a good idea. Try to keep the markup in your tables relatively simple -- remember, other people are going to be editing the article too! This example should give you an idea of what is possible, though.

==== Wiki markup ====

{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" align="center"

|+'''An example table'''

</nowiki></pre></blockquote>

==== What it looks like in your browser ====

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" align="center"

|+'''An example table'''

=== Floating table ===

==== Wiki markup ====

This paragraph is before the table.  Lorem ipsum ...

{| align="right" border="1"

</nowiki></pre></blockquote>

==== What it looks like in your browser ====

This paragraph is before the table.  Lorem ipsum ...

{| align="right" border="1"

This shows one table (in blue) nested inside another table's cell2.  ''Nested tables have to start on a new line.''

==== Wiki markup ====

{| border="1"

| &amp;alpha;

</nowiki></pre></blockquote>

==== What it looks like in your browser ====

{| border="1"

| &alpha;

===Combined use of COLSPAN and ROWSPAN===

==== Wiki markup ====

{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0"

|-

</nowiki></pre></blockquote>

==== What it looks like in your browser ====

{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0"

|-

==== Wiki markup ====

{| class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto"

|+ '''Cells left-aligned, table centered'''

</nowiki></pre></blockquote>

==== What it looks like in your browser ====

{| class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto"

|+ '''Cells left-aligned, table centered'''

At the start of a cell, add your parameter followed by a single pipe. For example <tt>width=300px|</tt> will set that cell to a width of 300 pixels. To set more than one parameter, leave a space between each one.

=== Wiki markup ===

{| style="color:white"

|-

</nowiki></pre></blockquote>

=== What it looks like in your browser ===

{| style="color:white"

|-

A method to get columns of numbers aligned at the decimal point is as follows:

==== Wiki markup ====

{| cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"

|align="right"| 432 || .1

</nowiki></pre></blockquote>

==== What it looks like in your browser ====

{| cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"

|align="right"| 432 || .1

If the column of numbers appears in a table with cell padding or cell spacing, one can still align the decimal points without an unsightly gap in the middle.  Embed a table in each number's cell and specify its column widths.  Make the embedded tables' column widths the same for each cell in the column.  (If decimal points are still misaligned using this method, the main table's column may be too narrow.  Add a parameter to increase the column's width.)

==== Wiki markup ====

{|border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="2" width="72"

|

</nowiki></pre></blockquote>

==== What it looks like in your browser ====

{|border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="2" width="72"

|

Some users have created [[w:CSS|CSS]] classes and [[Help:templates|templates]] to make table styles easier.  Instead of remembering table parameters, you just include an appropriate style class after the <code>{|</code>.  This helps keep table formatting consistent, and can allow a single change to the class to fix a problem or enhance the look of all the tables that are using it at once.  For instance, this:

<table border="0" align="center"><tr><td width="46%">

{| border="1" cellpadding="2"

|+Multiplication table

</nowiki></pre></blockquote>

</td><td>&#160;</td><td width="48%">

{| border="1" cellpadding="2"

|+Multiplication table

<td colspan="3" align="center">becomes this:</td></tr>

<tr><td width="46%">

{| class="wikitable"

|+Multiplication table

</nowiki></pre></blockquote>

</td><td>&#160;</td><td width="48%">

{| class="wikitable"

|+Multiplication table

simply by replacing the parameters of the table (<code>border="1" cellpadding="2"</code> or the like) with <code><nowiki>class="wikitable"</nowiki></code>  This is because the ''wikitable'' class in [[Wikipedia:MediaWiki:Common.css|MediaWiki:Common.css]] contains a number of ''table.wikitable'' [[w:CSS|CSS]] style rules.  These are all applied at once when you mark a table with the class.  You can then add additional style rules if desired.  These override the class's rules, allowing you to use the class style as a base and build up on it:

==== Wiki markup ====

{| class="wikitable" style="font-style:italic; font-size:120%; border:3px dashed red;"

|+Multiplication table

</nowiki></pre></blockquote>

==== What it looks like in your browser ====

{| class="wikitable" style="font-style:italic; font-size:120%; border:3px dashed red;"

|+Multiplication table

Notice that the table retains the gray background of the wikitable class, and the headers are still bold and centered.  But now the text formatting has been overridden by the local ''style'' statement; all of the text in the table has been made italic and 120% normal size, and the wikitable border has been replaced by the red dashed border.

{{Halopedia HAGP}}