Complex Tables Proposal

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Problem Statement #

Users often need to tables that use 'advanced' table functionality provided by XHTML but now unsupported by Creole 1.0 syntax. A wiki author's alternative is to drop into XHTML syntax, however raw XHTML markup is not necessarily honored by wiki engines, meaning no alternative is actually available to wiki authors needing such functionality.

Complex Tables Requirements #

This section discusses the goals and needs for complex table syntax.

New XHTML element support #

body

Identifies a group of rows within a table; allows a heading for these rows to be specified.

caption

Adds a caption at the top or bottom of a table.

col

Identifies a column to which styling may be applied.

colgroup

Identifies one or more columns as part of a group of consecutive columns; allows a heading and styling information for the group of columns to be specified.

footer

Identifies a group of rows logically part of the table footer.

Complex Tables Design Constraints #

This section contains basic principles that should be followed in the design of complex tables syntax.

1. Complex table markup must integrate with existing table markup, that is, its syntax must extend Creole 1.0 table syntax.
2. Complex table markup should 'fail gracefully' if parsed by a Creole 1.0 engine.

Complex Tables Syntax #

This section contains complex tables syntax that is being evaluated, or has been agreed to, by the committee.

Alternative #1 #

put yours here

Alternative #2 #

and yours here

Alternative #3 #

or yours here

Complex Tables Test Cases #

This section contains test cases necessary for compliance to the complex tables specification.

To those in need of complex tables, #

Please indicate on the Talk page -- a group can/will be created...
Thanks, John McClure