Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Tables

This guideline is a part of the English Wikipedia's Manual of Style. It is a generally accepted standard that editors should attempt to follow, though occasional exceptions may apply. Any substantive edit to this page should reflect consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on the talk page.

Shortcuts MOS:TABLES MOS:TABLE

Tables are a way of presenting information into rows and columns. Tables can be useful for various types of content on Wikipedia, but they should only be used when appropriate. In some cases, the information might be better conveyed in

Maintain

It is recommended that

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 formerly used a yellow color-scheme instead of the customary mauve, to tie in with the dominant color in the series) but should not be used gratuitously.

See

Maintain

Use these specific table tags and the correct

The various adjustments that may need to be made to the table's content, such as using special {{sort}} or {{sortname}} templates to impose an alternate sort order, may also create excessive complication in the table coding which can make it much harder to edit with any new information. If there's a column for individual people's names, for example, then consistent use of sortname templates will be necessary across the board in that column to ensure that the entries sort correctly by surname. Accordingly, if such special code will be necessary, then carefully consider whether there's actually any reader benefit to making the table sortable on alternate criteria at all before forcing sortability.

Where sortability is desired, ensure that the sort system is transparent and straightforward. Do not, for instance, use sequential numbers to enumerate a desired sort order on a column whose content is not actually numbers, such that an editor would have to manually renumber the entire table every time there's a new entry to add to it.

In some tables, it may also be beneficial to make some columns sortable and other columns not sortable at the same time; for instance, if the table directly contains a dedicated "References" column for the footnotes, it is virtually never useful for that column to be directly sortable. Per Help:Sortable tables, this is done by creating a sortable table, but adding class="unsortable" to the header attributes of the column where sortability is not desired.

For the accessibility reasons stated in

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

The sortability of multiple columns in a table is a powerful tool that helps the reader to understand relationships and find patterns in large lists. The sortability of tables makes them very useful for "List of..." articles in Wikipedia, which are intended to give an overview of the subject area, and to allow easy comparisons among many similar items. Avoid cramming too much detailed information into individual table entries; if appropriate, the reader should be able to click a Wikilink to read a full, detailed article corresponding to a concise table entry.

Often a list is best left as a list. Before reformatting a list into 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 misused to resolve visual layout problems. If the information you are editing is not tabular in nature, it probably does not belong in a table: Do not misuse tables for putting a caption under a photograph, arranging a group of links, or other strictly visual features. These practices make the article harder for other Wikipedians to edit, and will likely cause problems when viewed on different display sizes and aspect ratios. Also, when compared with tables, wikimarkup is more flexible, easier to use, and less arcane when used correctly for desktop publishing layout, page elements, and page orientation and positioning.

Examples:

Sporting results

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

Flow data

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:

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

• 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
  CSS styling
  .