`<table>`

A table based on the OASIS Exchange Table Model organizes arbitrarily complex relationships of tabular information. This standard table markup provides a wide variety of controls over the display properties of the data and even the table structure itself.

Usage information

The <table> element is based on the OASIS Exchange Table Model. However, it is augmented with DITA attributes that enable accessibility, content reference, specialization, and more.

An optional <title> inside the <table> element provides a caption to describe the table. In addition, the optional <desc> element enables a table description.

See simpletable for a simplified table model that is closely aligned with the HTML5 table model, and which can be easily specialized.

For <table>, in place of the @expanse attribute that is used by other DITA elements, the @pgwide attribute is used in order to conform to the OASIS Exchange Table Model.

Rendering expectations

If a <table> element contains a <desc> element, the content of the <desc> element is rendered as part of the content flow.

Content model

<title>?, <desc>?, <tgroup>+

Contained by

<abstract>, <body>, <bodydiv>, <dd>, <div>, <draft-comment>, <example>, <li>, <lq>, <note>, <p>, <section>

In order

Optional <title>
Optional <desc>
One or more <tgroup>

Contained by

Inheritance

- topic/table

The <table> element is a base element type. It is defined in the topic module.

Attributes

The following attributes are available on this element: universal attributes, @colsep, @frame, @rowheader, @rowsep, @scale, and the attributes defined below.

@orient

Specifies the orientation of the table in page-based output formats. This attribute is primarily useful for print-oriented display. The following values are valid:

port: Indicates portrait page orientation. The page is oriented with its long side vertical and its short side horizontal.
land: Indicates landscape page orientation. The page is oriented with its long side horizontal and its short side vertical.
-dita-use-conref-target: See Using the -dita-use-conref-target value for more information.

@pgwide

Specifies the horizontal placement of the element for print-oriented rendering. The following values are valid:

0: Aligns the element with the left margin of the current text line and takes indentation into account
1: Places the element on the left page margin

The following attributes are available on this element: universal attributes and the attributes defined below.

@colsep (complex table attributes)

Specifies whether to render column separators between table entries. The following values are valid: 0 (no separators) and 1 (separators).

The @colsep attribute is available on the following table elements: <colspec>, <entry>, <table>, and <tgroup>.

@frame (display attributes)

Specifies which portion of a border surrounds the element. The following values are valid:

all: Indicates that a line is rendered at the top, bottom, left, and right of the containing element.

bottom: Indicates that a line is rendered at the bottom of the containing element.

none: Indicates that no lines are rendered.

sides: Indicates that a line is rendered at the left and right of the containing element.

top: Indicates that a line is rendered at the top of the containing element.
topbot: Indicates that a line is rendered at the top and bottom of the containing element.
-dita-use-conref-target: See Using the -dita-use-conref-target value for more information.

Some processors or output formats might not support all values.

@orient

Specifies the orientation of the table in page-based output formats. This attribute is primarily useful for print-oriented display. The following values are valid:

port: Indicates portrait page orientation. The page is oriented with its long side vertical and its short side horizontal.
land: Indicates landscape page orientation. The page is oriented with its long side horizontal and its short side vertical.
-dita-use-conref-target: See Using the -dita-use-conref-target value for more information.

@pgwide

Specifies the horizontal placement of the element for print-oriented rendering. The following values are valid:

0: Aligns the element with the left margin of the current text line and takes indentation into account
1: Places the element on the left page margin

@rowheader (complex table attributes)

Specifies whether the entries in the respective column are row headers. The following values are valid:

firstcol: Indicates that entries in the first column of the table are row headers. This applies when the @rowheader attribute is specified on the <table> element.

headers: Indicates that entries of the column that is described using the <colspec> element are row headers. This applies when the @rowheader attribute is specified on the <colspec> element.
norowheader: Indicates that entries in the first column are not row headers. This applies when the @rowheader attribute is specified on the <table> element.
-dita-use-conref-target: See Using the -dita-use-conref-target value for more information.

Note (non-normative):

This attribute is not part of the OASIS Exchange Table Model upon which DITA tables are based. Some processors or output formats might not support all values.

The @rowheader attribute is available on the following table elements: <table> and <colspec>.

@rowsep (complex table attributes)

Specifies whether to render row separators between table entries. The following values are valid: 0 (no separators) and 1 (separators).

The @rowsep attribute is available on the following table elements: <colspec>, <entry>, <row>, <table>, and <tgroup>.

@scale (display attributes)

Specifies the percentage by which fonts are resized in relation to the normal text size. The value of this attribute is a positive integer. When used on <table> or <simpletable>, the following values are valid: 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 110, 120, 140, 160, 180, 200, and -dita-use-conref-target.

This attribute is primarily useful for print-oriented display. Some processors might not support all values.

If the @scale attribute is specified on an element that contains an image, the image is not scaled. The image is scaled only if a scaling property is explicitly specified for the <image> element.

Example

This section is non-normative.

The following code sample shows a table that is used to provide reference information about animals and gestation:

<table>
  <tgroup cols="2">
    <colspec colwidth="121*"/>
    <colspec colwidth="76*"/>
    <thead>
      <row>
        <entry valign="top">Animal</entry>
        <entry valign="top">Gestation (in months)</entry>
      </row>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
      <row>
        <entry>Elephant (African and Asian)</entry>
        <entry>19-22</entry>
      </row>
      <row>
        <entry>Giraffe</entry>
        <entry>15</entry>
      </row>
      <row>
        <entry>Rhinoceros</entry>
        <entry>14-16</entry>
      </row>
      <row>
        <entry>Hippopotamus</entry>
        <entry>7 1/2</entry>
      </row>
    </tbody>
  </tgroup>
</table>

The formatted output might be rendered in the following way:

The image shows a two-column table. The first column lists animals, and the second column lists gestation (in months). The header row is shaded with green, and the text in the header row is bold. The edges of the screen capture are tattered, to indicate that the image is part of a larger document.

In this example, the use of the <thead> element for the header enables processors or screen readers to identify a header relationship between any cell in the table body and the matching header cell above that column.