Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Tables

Tables are a way of presenting links, data or information in rows and columns. They can be useful for a variety of content presentations on Wikipedia, though should be used only when appropriate; sometimes the information in a table may be better presented as prose paragraphs or as an embedded list.

Avoid referring to tables as being on the left or right. Placement is different for viewers of the mobile version of Wikipedia, and is meaningless to people having pages read to them by assistive software. Instead, use captions to identify tables.

Formatting

Main page: Help:Table

It is recommended that wikitables be used in place of HTML tables, as they are easier to customize and maintain. A standard "wikitable style" is also available, by adding class="wikitable" to the top row of the table. Tables can be made sortable by adding class="sortable" to the top row. Sortable tables cannot contain any merged cells using rowspan; extreme caution should be applied if colspan is used. It is also possible to combine class, as in class="wikitable sortable".

Captions and headings

Table captions and column/row headings should be succinct and self-explanatory. In most cases, individual words or sentence fragments should be used, and articles (a, an, the) are unnecessary. Only the first word in the caption or heading should be capitalized (except for proper nouns), in keeping with Wikipedia's conventions for capital letters.

Appearance

In general, styles for tables and other block-level elements should be set using CSS classes, not with inline style attributes. This is because the site-wide CSS is more carefully tested to ensure compatibility with a wide range of browsers; it also creates a greater degree of professionalism by ensuring a consistent appearance between articles. Deviations from standard conventions are acceptable where they create a semantic distinction (for instance, the infoboxes and navigational templates relating to The Simpsons use a yellow colour-scheme instead of the customary mauve, to tie in with the dominant colour in the series) but should not be used gratuitously.

See WP:Deviations and Wikipedia talk:Consensus/RfC for guidance on use of colouring or non-standard formatting, and for when MoS and WikiProjects guidance is at variance.

Consideration may be given to collapsing tables which consolidate information covered in the prose.

Accessibility

Main page: Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Accessibility § Block elements

Screen readers and other web browsing tools make use of specific table tags to help users navigate the data contained within them. Use the correct wikitable pipe syntax to take advantage of all the features available.

Do not separate items by leaving blank lines between them, even when using unordered or definition lists.

Size

Splitting lists and tables per summary style is advised against.

Too much statistical data is against policy.

Appropriate

When tables are appropriate

Tables are a way of presenting links, data, or information in rows and columns. They are a complex form of list. Tables might be used for presenting mathematical data such as multiplication tables, comparative figures, or sporting results. They might also be used for presenting equivalent words in two or more languages; for awards by type and year; complex discographies; etc.

Often a list is best left as a list. Before you format a list in table form, consider whether the information will be more clearly conveyed by virtue of having rows and columns. If so, then a table is probably a good choice. If there is no obvious benefit to having rows and columns, then a table is probably not the best choice.

Tables should not be used simply for layout, either. If the information you are editing is not tabular in nature, it probably does not belong in a table: Try not to use tables for putting a caption under a photograph, arranging a group of links, or other strictly visual features. It makes the article harder to edit for other Wikipedians. Also, when compared with tables, wikimarkup is more flexible, easier to use, and less esoteric when used for desktop publishing, page elements, and page orientation and positioning.

Examples:

Sporting results

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score Reference Winner 1. 1981 World Championship Doug Mountjoy 18–12 Winner 2. 1983 World Championship (2) Cliff Thorburn 18–6 Winner 3 1983 International Open Cliff Thorburn 9–3 Winner 4. 1984 Classic Tony Meo 9–8 Winner 5. 1984 World Championship (3) Jimmy White 18–16 Winner 6. 1984 International Open (2) Tony Knowles 9–2 Winner 7. 1984 UK Championship Alex Higgins 16–8 Runner-up 1. 1985 World Championship Dennis Taylor 17–18 Winner 8. 1985 Grand Prix Dennis Taylor 10–9 Winner 9. 1985 UK Championship (2) Willie Thorne 16–14

Discographies

Year Title Peak chart positions Certifications CAN AUS AUT GER NLD NOR SWE SWI UK US North America Europe 1993 So Far So Good Released: November 2, 1993 Label: A&M 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 6 CA: 6× Platinum US: 5× Platinum SW: 4× Platinum UK: 3× Platinum 1999 The Best of Me Released: November 15, 1999 Label: A&M 14 18 4 7 13 2 20 3 12 — CA: 3× Platinum EU: 2× Platinum SW: Platinum UK: Platinum 2005 Anthology Released: October 18, 2005 Label: A&M 4 — 28 30 — — — 39 29 65 CA: 2× Platinum UK: Gold 2010 Icon Released: August 31, 2010 Label: Universal — — — — — — — — — — "—" denotes releases that did not chart.

Filmographies

List of acting performances in film and television Year Title Role Notes 1961 Barabbas Patrician in Arena uncredited 1962 Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man undetermined role uncredited 1963 The Beverly Hillbillies Janet Trego TV series, 15 episodes 1963 Mister Ed Telephone Operator Sailor's Girl TV series, episodes: "Love Thy New Neighbor" "Ed Discovers America" 1964 The Americanization of Emily Beautiful Girl uncredited 1965 The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Therapist TV series, episode: "The Girls of Nazarone Affair" 1966 Eye of the Devil Odile de Caray 1967 The Fearless Vampire Killers Sarah Shagal 1967 Don't Make Waves Malibu 1967 Valley of the Dolls Jennifer North 1968 Rosemary's Baby Girl at Party uncredited 1968 The Wrecking Crew Freya Carlson 1969 The Thirteen Chairs (also known as 12+1) Pat released posthumously

Awards

Year Award Title Result 1932 Outstanding Production Arrowsmith Nominated 1935 Outstanding Production The Informer Nominated 1935 Best Director The Informer Won 1939 Best Director Stagecoach Nominated 1940 Outstanding Production The Long Voyage Home Nominated 1940 Best Director The Grapes of Wrath Won 1941 Best Motion Picture How Green Was My Valley Won 1941 Best Director How Green Was My Valley Won 1942 Best Documentary The Battle of Midway Won 1943 Best Documentary, Short Subjects December 7th Won 1952 Best Motion Picture The Quiet Man Nominated 1952 Best Director The Quiet Man Won

Mathematical tables
Multiplication table × 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 2 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 3 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 27 30 4 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 5 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 6 6 12 18 24 30 36 42 48 54 60 7 7 14 21 28 35 42 49 56 63 70 8 8 16 24 32 40 48 56 64 72 80 9 9 18 27 36 45 54 63 72 81 90 10 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Flow data

When tables may not be appropriate

Simple lists

If a list is simple, it is generally better to use one of the standard Wikipedia list formats instead of a table. Lists are easier to maintain than tables, and are often easier to read.

Here is an example of a simple list using list formatting:

* 1980: Ultra Wave
* 1988: What's Bootsy Doin'?
* 1994: Blasters of the Universe
* 1994: Fresh Outta 'P' Uni

Which produces:

• 1980: Ultra Wave
• 1988: What's Bootsy Doin'?
• 1994: Blasters of the Universe
• 1994: Fresh Outta 'P' Uni

versus table formatting:

{|
|1980
|Ultra Wave
|-
|1988
|What's Bootsy Doin'?
|-
|1994
|Blasters of the Universe
|-
|1994
|Fresh Outta 'P' Uni
|}

Which produces:

1980	Ultra Wave
1988	What's Bootsy Doin'?
1994	Blasters of the Universe
1994	Fresh Outta 'P' Uni

Prose

Prose is preferred in articles as prose allows the presentation of detail and clarification of context, in a way that a table may not. Prose flows, like one person speaking to another, and is best suited to articles, because their purpose is to explain. Tables which are mainly links, which are most useful for browsing subject areas, should usually have their own entries: see Wikipedia:Stand-alone lists for detail. In an article, significant items should normally be mentioned naturally within the text rather than merely tabulated.

Page layout

Page layouts (using multiple columns, positioning elements, adding borders, etc.) should be done via CSS, not tables, whenever possible.

• Images and other embedded media should be positioned using standard image syntax.
• There are several templates available that will create preformatted multi-column layouts: see Help:Columns.
• Other elements can be positioned or given special formatting through the use of the HTML <div> element and CSS styling.

See also

• Help:Table, extensive help
• Help:Table/Introduction to tables, quick guide
• Help:Collapsing (show/hide button)
• Wikipedia:Conditional tables
• Wikipedia:Table namespace, an inactive proposal
• Table (HTML)