View source for Help:Introduction to tables with Wiki Markup/Old advanced formatting page

{{historical}}{{intro to|

In general, it is recommended that tables simply use Wikipedia's default formatting. In [[MOS:TABLES|some circumstances]], however, you may need to apply some more complicated formatting using [[WP:CSS|CSS]]. The appearance of each cell can be controlled by adding <code><nowiki>style=" " |</nowiki></code> before the cell's contents. CSS formatting is added to headings and captions in the same way.
{{/markup examples}}

Any CSS attributes can be added in the <code><nowiki>style=" " |</nowiki></code>. 

{{/style examples}} 

As an example, here's an example with some varied formatting added to specific cells

<pre style="width:70%">
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Caption: some cells yellow.
|-
! Header1
! Header2
! Header3
|-
| style="background: yellow;" | R1C1
| R1C2
| style="background: yellow;" | R1C3
|-
| R2C1
| style="background: yellow;" | R2C2
| R2C3
|}
</pre>

Then it would produce this:

{{/table_1}}


CSS attributes can be added to the whole table by editing the first line of the table using <code><nowiki>{| style=" "</nowiki></code> in the first line. Similarly, attributes can be added to a row using <code><nowiki>|- style=" "</nowiki></code> The example below would fill the ''whole'' table yellow.

<pre style="width:70%">
{| class="wikitable" style="background: yellow;"
</pre>


All of these formatting options should be used sparingly. Tables in crazy colours are hard to read.


===Hidden comments===

In complicated tables, sometimes [[HTML_element#Comments|hidden comments]] can be useful to explain formatting. These hidden comments are only visible when editing the page, not when reading it normally. Comments can be added by placing them between <code><nowiki><!--</nowiki></code> and <code><nowiki>--></nowiki></code>.

<code><nowiki>| R1C1 || R1C2 ||R1C3 <!-- Hidden comment to explain this row --></nowiki></code>

}}

[[Category:Wikipedia tables]]