Tagging Tables

Table, Table Wrapper, and Table Group

There are three similar sounding elements for tagging tables:

<table>

An element from one of the standard public table tag sets (by default the XHTML Tag Set) that handles row-and-column data. The OASIS CALS Exchange Tag Set can also be used with the Tag Suite, and the name for the similar element is <oasis:table>.

<table-wrap>

Element that represents the complete table. This includes the row-and-column data, table number, table title, table caption, and any table footnotes or general notes attached to the table. If the complete table includes a label (such as “Table 3”) and it should appear in a List of Tables for the publication, then it is tagged with the <table-wrap> element.

<table-wrap-group>

A logical or display grouping of more than one complete table (<table-wrap>)

Table Wrapper

Here is a table tagged as a <table> and other elements inside a <table-wrap>:

...
<table-wrap>
<table frame="box">
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Color</th>
<th>Size</th>
<th>Price</th>
</tr>
</thead>
  
<tbody>
<tr>
<td rowspan="3">Green</td>
<td>small</td>
<td>$3.25</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>medium</td>
<td>$2.25</td>
</tr>
  
<tr>
<td>large</td>
<td>$1.15</td>
</tr>
  
<tr>
<td rowspan="3">Red</td>
<td>small</td>
<td>$3.25</td>
</tr>
  
<tr>
<td>medium</td>
<td>$5.25</td>
</tr>
  
<tr>
<td>large</td>
<td>$9.95</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</table-wrap>
...


The <table-wrap> element provides a uniform place to put information such as a table number (<label>) and table title and caption (both in <caption>). The element <table-wrap> can also contain a Table Wrapper Footer, as a place to put table footnotes and other information. Because objects that are identified as tables can be encoded in several ways — as XHTML tables (<table>), lists, paragraphs of material, graphics, a mixture of these elements — it is possible that a <table-wrap> will not contain a <table> element.

Here is a table that has no tabular material in it because the tabular portion is represented as a graphic:

<table-wrap id="Table-07">
  <caption>
    <title>2008 Expenditures</title>
    <p>Total research expenditures by disease, 2008</p>
  </caption>
  <graphic xlink:href="totals.jpeg">
    <alt-text>Distribution of research spending for major
       diseases.</alt-text>
    <object-id>314159</object-id>
  </graphic>
  <attrib>Reprinted courtesy of TableSource, Inc.</attrib>
</table-wrap>

Here is a non-tabular table:

<table-wrap id="Table-05">
  <caption>
    <title>Show and Tell Program</title>
  </caption>
    <list list-type="order">
    <list-item><label>1.</label><p>Poodle</p></list-item>
    <list-item><label>2.</label><p>Persian Cat</p></list-item>
    <list-item><label>3.</label><p>Weaver Finches</p></list-item>
    <list-item><label>4.</label><p>Gecko</p></list-item>
  </list>
  <attrib>Reprinted courtesy of YourSchool.edu</attrib>
  <permissions>
    <copyright-statement>© 2008</copyright-statement>
  </permissions>
</table-wrap>

Table Group

Some complex tables may consist of a single table wrapper (Table Wrapper) containing a one or more small tables that represent one logical tabular area. For example, one part of the display might be 3 rows by 10 columns, the next part might be 5 rows by 2 columns, and the last part may return to 10 columns for 6 more rows. Each tabular area can be tagged with a Table (XHTML table model) element, and paragraphs of text may be interspersed between the tabular material. In the United States, tax tables are frequently this type of table.

In the example just explained, three Table (XHTML table model)s equaled one Table Wrapper and not a Table Wrapper Group. A Table Wrapper Group contains multiple Table Wrapper elements, each of which typically has a table number, caption or title, and tabular material. The entire group may also be given a collective label and caption. Table groups are frequently a print artifact, where several tables are clustered on a page for better display. The Table Wrapper Group element has been provided to capture these as well as semantic or logical groupings. Here is an abbreviated Table Wrapper Group:

<table-wrap-group id="Table-grp-06">
  <label>Special Section II.</label>
  <caption><title>Tables 3 through 5</title></caption>
  <table-wrap id="Table-03">
    <label>Table 3</label>
    <caption><p>...</p></caption>
    <graphic xlink:href="..."></graphic>
  </table-wrap>
  <table-wrap id="Table-04">
    <label>Table 4</label>
    <caption><p>...</p></caption>
    <graphic xlink:href="..."></graphic>
  </table-wrap>
  <table-wrap id="Table-05">
    <label>Table 5</label>
    <caption><p>...</p></caption>
    <graphic xlink:href="..."></graphic>
  </table-wrap>
</table-wrap-group>

Table Formatting

This Tag Suite uses the XHTML table model by default. This model matches the needs of web browsers and can support (at least roughly) most table display formatting.

Format is indicated in one of two ways in XHTML tables: using multiple single-purpose attributes for simple formatting, or making more complex formats using the @style attribute.

Simple Formatting with Attributes

Simple format information can be indicated with the following attributes:

  • @border controls borders around all of the cells in a table,
  • @cellpadding controls space between the text and any borders in the cells of the table,
  • @cellspacing controls space between the cells of the table,
  • @frame controls the “box” around the whole table,
  • @rules controls rules between groupings in the table (rows, columns, column groups, etc.), and
  • @width controls the width of the entire table or columns within the table.

To illustrate use of the @rules attribute, here is a table with rules on the rows:

...
<table-wrap>
<table rules="rows">
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Color</th>
<th>Size</th>
<th>Price</th>
</tr>
</thead>
  
<tbody>
<tr>
<td rowspan="3">Green</td>
<td>small</td>
<td>$3.25</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>medium</td>
<td>$2.25</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>large</td>
<td>$1.15</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td rowspan="3">Red</td>
<td>small</td>
<td>$3.25</td>
</tr>
  
<tr>
<td>medium</td>
<td>$5.25</td>
</tr>
  
<tr>
<td>large</td>
<td>$9.95</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</table-wrap>
...


Here is the same table, without the rules, to demonstrate use of the @frame attribute:

...
<table-wrap>
<table frame="box">
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Color</th>
<th>Size</th>
<th>Price</th>
</tr>
</thead>
  
<tbody>
<tr>
<td rowspan="3">Green</td>
<td>small</td>
<td>$3.25</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>medium</td>
<td>$2.25</td>
</tr>
  
<tr>
<td>large</td>
<td>$1.15</td>
</tr>
  
<tr>
<td rowspan="3">Red</td>
<td>small</td>
<td>$3.25</td>
</tr>
  
<tr>
<td>medium</td>
<td>$5.25</td>
</tr>
  
<tr>
<td>large</td>
<td>$9.95</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</table-wrap>
...


And here is the @border attribute:

...
<table-wrap>
<table border="1">
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Color</th>
<th>Size</th>
<th>Price</th>
</tr>
</thead>
  
<tbody>
<tr>
<td rowspan="3">Green</td>
<td>small</td>
<td>$3.25</td>
</tr>
  
<tr>
<td>medium</td>
<td>$2.25</td>
</tr>
  
<tr>
<td>large</td>
<td>$1.15</td>
</tr>
  
<tr>
<td rowspan="3">Red</td>
<td>small</td>
<td>$3.25</td>
</tr>
  
<tr>
<td>medium</td>
<td>$5.25</td>
</tr>
  
<tr>
<td>large</td>
<td>$9.95</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>    
</table-wrap>
...


Formatting with Style

All the tables just shown are all relatively simple formats. More complex table formatting is done using the @style attribute, which contains CSS instructions. Key to understanding how the CSS in tables works is that instructions on smaller portions override those on larger portions of the table. For example, if a background color is provided for the whole table and different background color is specified for a row, everything in the table will be the first background color except that row, which will have the second. Similarly, if borders are specified for a <colgroup>, they will apply to the whole <colgroup> unless a different border is specified for one cell (<th> or <td>), in which case that cell will have the override.

Here is a sample, in code and image, of a relatively complex table, formatted using a variety of techniques including CSS in the @style attribute, controlling alignment with the @align, and a few spans.

...
<table-wrap>
<table rules="groups" >
<colgroup style="border-right: hidden"><col/></colgroup>
<colgroup style="border-right: solid thin"><col/><col/><col/></colgroup>
<colgroup><col/><col/><col/></colgroup>

<tr>
<th></th>
<th colspan="3" style="border-bottom: solid">1974-75</th>
<th colspan="3" style="border-bottom: solid">1983-84</th>
</tr>
  
<tr>
<th></th>
<th style="border-bottom: solid thin">Public</th>
<th style="border-bottom: solid thin">Private</th>
<th style="border-bottom: solid thin">Total</th>
<th style="border-bottom: solid thin">Public</th>
<th style="border-bottom: solid thin">Private</th>
<th style="border-bottom:  solid thin">Total</th>
</tr>

<tr>
<td style="background: lightgrey" colspan="7">Preschool</td>
</tr>
  
<tr>
<td>Schools</td>
<td align="right">n.a.</td>
<td align="right">n.a.</td>
<td align="right">n.a.</td>
<td align="right">n.a.</td>
<td align="right">n.a.</td>
<td align="right">n.a.</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>Teachers</td>
<td align="right">2,986</td>
<td align="right">1,252</td>
<td align="right">4,238</td>
<td align="right">15,440</td>
<td align="right">4,008</td>
<td align="right">19,448</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>Enrollment</td>
<td align="right">108,500</td>
<td align="right">43,800</td>
<td align="right">152,300</td>
<td align="right">442,700</td>
<td align="right">80,600</td>
<td align="right">523,300</td>
</tr>
  
<tr>
<td style="background: lightgrey" colspan="7">Primary</td>
</tr>
  
<tr>
<td>Schools </td>
<td align="right">9,982</td>
<td align="right">1,116</td>
<td align="right">11,098</td>
<td align="right">11,397</td>
<td align="right">1,285</td>
<td align="right">12,682</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>Teachers</td>
<td align="right">54,276</td>
<td align="right">8,922</td>
<td align="right">63,198</td>
<td align="right">71,454</td>
<td align="right">9,176</td>
<td align="right">80,630</td>
</tr>
  
<tr>
<td>Enrollment</td>
<td align="right">1,764,100</td>
<td align="right">226,000</td>
<td align="right">1,990,100</td>
<td align="right">2,338,400</td>
<td align="right">303,000</td>
<td align="right">2,641,400</td>
</tr>
  
<tr>
<td style="background: lightgrey" colspan="7">Secondary</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>Schools</td>
<td align="right">735</td>
<td align="right">438</td>
<td align="right">1,173</td>
<td align="right">1,486</td>
<td align="right">710</td>
<td align="right">2,196</td>
</tr>
  
<tr>
<td>Teachers</td>
<td align="right">24,222</td>
<td align="right">9,133</td>
<td align="right">33,355</td>
<td align="right">41,350</td>
<td align="right">13,964</td>
<td align="right">55,314</td>
</tr>
  
<tr>
<td>Enrollment</td>
<td align="right">513,100</td>
<td align="right">118,100</td>
<td align="right">631,200</td>
<td align="right">786,200</td>
<td align="right">177,200</td>
<td align="right">963,400</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td style="background: lightgrey" colspan="7">Higher Education</td>
</tr>
  
<tr>
<td>Schools</td>
<td align="right">26</td>
<td align="right">12</td>
<td align="right">38</td>
<td align="right">535</td>
<td align="right">275</td>
<td align="right">805</td>
</tr>
  
<tr>
<td>Teachers</td>
<td align="right">13,228</td>
<td align="right">1,376</td>
<td align="right">14,604</td>
<td align="right">24,633</td>
<td align="right">4,072</td>
<td align="right">28,705</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>Enrollment</td>
<td align="right">172,100</td>
<td align="right">21,200</td>
<td align="right">193,300</td>
<td align="right">320,800</td>
<td align="right">63,900</td>
<td align="right">384,700</td>
</tr>
</table>
</table-wrap>
...