Difference between revisions of "Help:Tables"

Revision as of 17:04, 27 October 2012

Template:Help

MediaWiki has its own special codes for creating tables. While this might seem a little inconvenient at start, it only takes a little time to get used to. There are four basic codes required to create a table:

• {| - New table
• | - New column
• |- - New row
• |} - End table

Creating a simple table

The following guide explains how to create a simple table, which looks like the one below:

We will first create the beginning and the end of the table:

{|
 Table body
|}

We'll now add the heading of the table. This is done using |+, followed by a space and then the heading:

{|
|+ Heading
 Table body
|}

We will now create the rows. This is done using the |- signs. Since we have 3 rows, we are going to use these signs 3 times:

{|
|+ Heading
|-
 First row here
|-
 Second row here
|-
 Third row here
|}

Let's now create the first row of the table. As this is the heading row, we'll use the ! sign, to make the text bold:

{|
|+ Heading
|-
! Column A !! Column B !! Column C
|-
 Second row here
|-
 Third row here
|}

Notice how one ! is used at the beginning of the line, while two exclamation marks are used separate rows.

Now we know how to create a table row, and we are going to add the contents to the next rows:

{|
|+ Heading
|-
! Column A !! Column B !! Column C
|-
! Row 2 || 2B || 2C
|-
! Row 3 || 3B || 3C
|}

The table is almost complete. Now all we need is to add a border. This is done using "border=#" at the top of the table, similar to HTML.

{| border=1
|+ Heading
|-
! Column A !! Column B !! Column C
|-
! Row 2 || 2B || 2C
|-
! Row 3 || 3B || 3C
|}

The final result is as shown above.

Comparing to HTML

If you are familiar with HTML tables, you'll probably find the following table useful:

Table parameters

There are a few parameters available for designing tables. Attributes of the entire table should be added in the first line of the table.

External links

A tool that converts HTML tables to Wiki source - useful if you are still uncomfortable with the Wiki code.