This is a draft completely revised H2G2 GuideML - TABLE - tag

The best property of tables in GuideMl is that your browser will create nice columns
¹
and rows
²
for you. The space for one element inside a table is called a cell. If the content in one cell is wider then any of the others in the same column, all cells in that column will grow wider. Tables are a lot like building blocks, if you omit one part the whole structure gets unstable. This happens most with the Table Delimiters
³
.

Tables are used to lay out content in tabular format. The

<TABLE>

tag is the main construct, but a more complete list of tags:

• 
  <TABLE>
  
• 
  <CAPTION>
  
• 
  <TR>
  
  pronounciate as Table Row
  
• 
  <TH>
  
  pronounciate as Table Header
  ⁴
• 
  <TD>
  
  pronounciate as Table Delimiter
  

optional parameters:

• 
  WIDTH="units"
  
• 
  HEIGHT="units"
  
• 
  BORDER="units"
  
  A value > 0 creates a border
  
• 
  CELLSPACING="units"
  
• 
  CELLPADDING="units"
  
• 
  BGCOLOR="color"
  
• 
  BORDERCOLOR="color"
  
• 
  ALIGN="horizontal position"
  
• 
  VALIGN="vertical position"
  
• 
  ROWSPAN="number of rows to span vertical"
  
• 
  COLSPAN="number of cells to span horizontal"
  
  not for use after caption
  

values for parameters:

• 
  "units"
  
  pixels by default, normal characters are 10 wide 20 high
  
  can be percentage, 100% for whole page width
  
  NB 100% height is not stable
  
• 
  "color"
  
  something like red, green, blue or
  
  more technical #rrggbb
  
• 
  "horizontal position"
  
  left or center or right
  
• 
  "vertical position"
  
  top or middle or bottom
  
• 
  "number of ..."
  
  not more then realy used to prevent unstable tables
  

There were no tables harmed to produce this help entry

Syntax

Usage:

• 
  Start a table with a <TABLE> Open-tag, and close it with a corresponding </TABLE> Close-tag
  ¹².
  

• 
  Rows start with
  
  <TR>
  
  and are closed by
  
  </TR>
  
  . On each row we have to create the same count of cells.
  

• 
  Cells start with
  
  <TD>
  
  and are closed by
  
  </TD>
  
  . On each row we have to create the same count of cells.
  

¹³

• 
  Any
  
  Open-tag
  
  can be followed by any parameter. Sizes are dependent from the enclosed element upward
  ¹⁴.
  Alignments are valid for enclosed elements only. The font properties are (BBC generated this page) default inside each cell. The parser chokes on parameters after a closing tag!
  

• 
  If you want a cell to be blank, use
  
  &nbsp;
  ¹⁵
  or
  
  <SMILEY TYPE="space"/>
  ¹⁶
  or
  
  <SPACER TYPE="block" WIDTH="1" HEIGTH="1"/>
  ¹⁷
  as the cell's contents to avoid your table to wiggle.
  

• 
  The
  
  CELLSPACING="0"
  
  is for the space between cell-border and neighbour cell.
  ¹⁸

• 
  The
  
  CELLPADDING="0"
  
  is for the minimal space between cell-border and content.
  

• 
  The
  
  COLSPAN
  
  and
  
  ROWSPAN
  
  attributes make cells span multiple columns and rows
  

Known Issues

All browsers have their obscurity's, older versions are likely to fail for big and nested tables. Newer browsers still have their limits. -MU-

Example One

Example Two

Further Information

• Using <TABLE> in the h2g2 Edited Guide and than via GuideMl Clinic back to this entry
• The GuideML Clinic

Do not stumble over this pile of footnotes.