Help:Wiki University Wikitext--Tables


 * Now that you are familiar with borders, padding, margins, colors, etc., you are ready to advance to learning how to create and edit tables like the one above.
 * Once you are familiar with tables, you will have the tools to create and edit Templates, Sidebars and NavBoxes, so pay close attention to how tables are created.

Opening and closing tags
These two tags open and close a table.
 * Just the opposite of the opening table tag.

Rows
Tables consist of rows with cells. However rows have NO CLOSING tag. Rows are created with a |- |-
 * NOTICE that it consists of a pipe and a dash.

Cells
| Rows are made up of cells where the actual information is displayed. Cells have NO CLOSING tag. Cells are created with just a |
 * NOTICE that it consists only of a pipe.

Tables are many rows of cells
This is wikitext coding for a table with one row populated with four cells:  If we were to load this, we would see nothing because the individual cells must have something in them in order to display:  This is how our beginning table looks on the page:
 * NOTICE the opening and closing table tags
 * NOTICE the row tag has no closing tag
 * NOTICE each cell has no closing tag

To add another row of cells, just repeat the row tag and cell tags:  Here is our table with two rows and four cells in each row 
 * Here is our table so far:


 * NOTICE this table does not look much like a table. Tables usually have borders, column titles, etc.

Borders and background colors
As we have said, our little table looks like two sentences. Tables usually have borders and sometimes background colors. To do that to our table all you have to do is add the following code to the opening table tag: {| class="wikitable" Here is the coding:  Here's what our table looks like with the class wikitable added to the opening table tag:


 * NOTICE that each cell is enclosed with a border.
 * NOTICE there is padding around each word in the cells.
 * NOTICE there is a background color of a light gray.

Adding rows and cells
To add rows and cells, add your row tags followed by your cell tags. You can add as many as you like. To find out about having other kinds of borders and background colors go to Advanced Wikitext training

How to structure a list using tables
In lesson four you learned about lists. However, if lists are very long, table are very useful:
 * 1) If there are '''six or less items in a list, place them in one vertical column.
 * 2) If there are seven or more list them in two or more columns like so:

Here is the coding:  ''Please note: If you have a list of items in which each item contains many words, you might want to restrict the number of columns. Maybe two or three would look better than four which could cause each item to wrap the text and cause uneven columns.''
 * Unless instructed differently in a specific project.
 * NOTICE the padding which will give a little space between the columns.
 * NOTICE there is NO table width stated in the Wikitext table header. Let the browser set the width according to the viewport displaying the table.

How many items in each column?
To figure out how many items in each column, count the total number of items and divide by four. If the answer is an uneven number, like 4.75, then round up to the next whole number like 5. Then put five items in each column with the remainder of the items in the fourth column.

''Please Note: There are a few Wikitext codes that are being used to create columns of items. The problem is they often create uneven columns. We therefore ask that you use the above method to make sure the columns are even and have a nice space between the columns.''

Try these out


 Exercises Check your answers
 * Create a table with four rows and four cells in each row.
 * In the first column list four fruits.
 * In the second column, four vegetables.
 * In the third column, four nuts.
 * In the fourth colomn, four grains.
 * This table will be the basis for all future exercises on tables. (Be careful we are talking about columns not rows.  This exercise will teach you how to arrange items in columns.)

 Quick Quiz
 * Tables do not need a closing tag
 * A. True
 * B. False


 * Rows must have a closing tag
 * A. True
 * b. False


 * Cells must have something in them for the table to be visible.
 * A. True
 * B. False

Check your answers