| col 1 | col 2 | col 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| row 1 | one two three |  | |
| row 2 | This is a long line of text that must all fit in the cell. | five | six |
| row 3 | hypertext link | nine | |
| row 4 | ten and eleven | twelve | |
Web browsers dynamically display tables based on the current window size, font selection, and other parameters. While it is possible to create exquisitely customized HTML tables, the communication value of a table tends to decrease in proportion to its complexity. MTX provides a simplified and flexible format for defining tables.
MTX Table Format
Use a leading vertical bar (|) to tag lines that will become part of a table. Each new line becomes a row in the table. Use additional vertical bars (|) to delimit columns within each row of a table. Here is an example:
|A Simple Table | |*col 1|*col 2|*col 3 |*row 1|one |two |three |*row 2|four |five |six |*row 3|seven |eight |nine
The first line of the table contains the caption and other formatting information. Leave this line empty or use the "none" switch to suppress the caption. Place a leading star (*) character in a cell to create a row or column heading. Empty cells will be blank unless they contain a single star (*) character. Place a leading caret (^) to force the text in a cell to be top aligned (the default is vertically centered). Use spaces to pad lines for better source file readability. Use the line break tag {BR} to force a line break within a cell.
It is possible to have a cell that spans more than one column. Use the back slash (\) character followed by the number of columns to span:
|col 1 |span\2 |col 4
By default, tables will expand to fill 95% of the width of the current window. This can be overridden by using the "nowide" switch after the caption. The table border can be suppressd by using the "noborder" switch. Blank cells can be suppressed for the entire table by using the "noblanks" switch. These switches can be combined by adding additional vertical bars (|). Here are some examples:
|A Skinny Table|nowide |An Invisible Table|noborder |A Skinny, Invisible Table|nowide|noborder |A Table with No Blanks|noblanks
Tables are not universally available. Current versions of Netscape and NCSA Mosaic support tables. Web browsers from America Online and certain other online services do not.
Examples
| col 1 | col 2 | col 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| row 1 | one | two | three |
| row 2 | four | five | six |
| row 3 | seven | eight | nine |
| col 1 | col 2 | col 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| row 1 | one two three | | |
| row 2 | This is a long line of text that must all fit in the cell. | five | six |
| row 3 | hypertext link | nine | |
| row 4 | ten and eleven | twelve | |
| col 1 | col 2 | col 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| row 1 | one | two | three |
| row 2 | four | five | six |
| row 3 | seven | eight | nine |
| col 1 | col 2 | col 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| row 1 | one | two | three |
| row 2 | four | five | six |
| row 3 | seven | eight | nine |
| col 1 | col 2 | col 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| row 1 | one | two | three |
| row 2 | four | five | six |
| row 3 | seven | eight | nine |
| col 1 | col 2 | col 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| row 1 | |||
| row 2 | five | ||
| row 3 |
| September 1996 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
| 2 Labor Day | 3 Small Group Video Interview Class | 4 Small Group Video Interview | 5 Small Group Video Interview | 6 Small Group Video Interview |
| 9 Small Group Clinic Class | 10 Small Group Clinic | 11 Small Group Clinic | 12 | 13 |
| 16 | 17 Unit 1 Exam | 18 Unit 1 Exam | 19 Small Group Clinic | 20 Small Group Clinic |
| 23 Small Group Class | 24 Small Group | 25 Small Group Class | 26 Small Group Midterm Review | 27 Small Group |