Comments on: Advanced HTML table features, Part 1 http://www.xaprb.com/blog/2006/05/06/advanced-html-table-features-part-1/ Stay curious! Tue, 06 Jan 2009 15:11:53 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Xaprb http://www.xaprb.com/blog/2006/05/06/advanced-html-table-features-part-1/#comment-393 Xaprb Sun, 07 May 2006 01:13:59 +0000 http://www.xaprb.com/blog/?p=81#comment-393 <p>Smartminion, the W3C spec usually leaves out optional end tags. Closing TR, TH, and TD tags are optional in HTML 4, though not in XML and therefore not in XHTML. I never liked leaving out end tags. It means a parser has to be a lot smarter. But hey, the Internet has been a huge success anyway.</p> <p>THEAD and TBODY are great structural elements as well. TFOOT would be too, if it were well-supported in browsers. Alas. I have another post on how THEAD and TBODY can be used to structure a table such that it can be presented as a <a href="/blog/2006/01/10/grouping-data-visually-with-row-groups/" rel="nofollow">Windows Explorer-style folder tree</a>. I say, use all the tools you have :-) <p>Nick, I understand where you're coming from. I'm actually a very upbeat guy, not unhappy at all. It's more a matter of asking people to help me help them. Sometimes people post followup questions to the concepts I discuss, but don't tell me enough so I can be helpful. Examples are on <a href="/blog/2005/12/06/find-missing-numbers-in-a-sequence-with-sql/" rel="nofollow">how to find missing values in a sequence with SQL</a> and <a href="/blog/2006/02/21/flexible-insert-and-update-in-mysql/" rel="nofollow">flexible insert and update statements in SQL</a>. I'm not alone in this regard. Look at any of Joe Celko's posts on newsgroups or forums and his signature is even more blunt than my request. It's really hard to say anything meaningful about someone's problem without knowing how the data is structured.</p> <p>Thanks for your comments, both of you!</p> Smartminion, the W3C spec usually leaves out optional end tags. Closing TR, TH, and TD tags are optional in HTML 4, though not in XML and therefore not in XHTML. I never liked leaving out end tags. It means a parser has to be a lot smarter. But hey, the Internet has been a huge success anyway.

THEAD and TBODY are great structural elements as well. TFOOT would be too, if it were well-supported in browsers. Alas. I have another post on how THEAD and TBODY can be used to structure a table such that it can be presented as a Windows Explorer-style folder tree. I say, use all the tools you have :-)

Nick, I understand where you’re coming from. I’m actually a very upbeat guy, not unhappy at all. It’s more a matter of asking people to help me help them. Sometimes people post followup questions to the concepts I discuss, but don’t tell me enough so I can be helpful. Examples are on how to find missing values in a sequence with SQL and flexible insert and update statements in SQL. I’m not alone in this regard. Look at any of Joe Celko’s posts on newsgroups or forums and his signature is even more blunt than my request. It’s really hard to say anything meaningful about someone’s problem without knowing how the data is structured.

Thanks for your comments, both of you!

]]> By: Nick http://www.xaprb.com/blog/2006/05/06/advanced-html-table-features-part-1/#comment-392 Nick Sat, 06 May 2006 21:22:44 +0000 http://www.xaprb.com/blog/?p=81#comment-392 <p>Wow, calm down. You are mean when you post on other sites... Not much here either...</p> <p>"make sure you include enough information for me to make an intelligent response."...</p> <p>How happy are you in life? Sheesh!</p> Wow, calm down. You are mean when you post on other sites… Not much here either…

“make sure you include enough information for me to make an intelligent response.”…

How happy are you in life? Sheesh!

]]> By: smartminion http://www.xaprb.com/blog/2006/05/06/advanced-html-table-features-part-1/#comment-391 smartminion Sat, 06 May 2006 15:06:08 +0000 http://www.xaprb.com/blog/?p=81#comment-391 <p>Thanks - I look forward to more details and examples. I've found myelf using THEAD a lot to define headers (both data and styled using CSS) - I'll have to consider TH and when to use them versus a THEAD and TDs.</p> <p>Is there a reason why the samples in the W3c spec don't have closed cells and rows? Just seemed strange to me.</p> <p>Thanks again!</p> Thanks - I look forward to more details and examples. I’ve found myelf using THEAD a lot to define headers (both data and styled using CSS) - I’ll have to consider TH and when to use them versus a THEAD and TDs.

Is there a reason why the samples in the W3c spec don’t have closed cells and rows? Just seemed strange to me.

Thanks again!

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