The table element
About
The table element is the top element in a table. The table element holds various attributes, determining the layout of the table.
What you can do
You can do the following tasks on the table element:
The tasks you can do depends on your user role.
Working with attributes
You can add metadata to the table element to distinguish it from other table elements. You might, for example, want to style the content of a specific table element differently compared to other table elements.
To add metadata, you add a value for an XML attribute, such as the class or type attribute.
The available XML attributes in Skribenta are class, type, label, id, condition, xml:lang, data-emoji and data.
Classifying the table element
You can add a value to the class attribute to specify what purpose an element has. Furthermore, you can, for example, set the class attribute value to spare-part-list for a table to say that the table contains spare part components.
A number of elements in Skribenta has a value for the class attribute when you create them. For example, the wrapper element.
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class = note: Makes a note wrapper containing information that is important to highlight.
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class = warning: Makes a warning wrapper to inform about dangerous aspects of handling a product.
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class = figure: Makes a figure wrapper often containing an image with a title.
Skribenta can be configured to let you select attribute values from a predefined list, which can be specific for a given element.
For instructions, see:
Typing the table element
Various values can be added to the type attribute for an element to specify that it belongs to a specific type.
A specific type on, for example, a table element allows to style the table differently in a PDF compared to other tables. For example, setting the attribute type to Big is a common way to allow a table span across side margins in a PDF to make the table bigger.
The type attribute can have one or more values. The type attribute is often used in conjunction to the class attribute to specify different types of element of the same class.
Skribenta can be configured to let you select attribute values from a predefined list, which can be specific for a given element.
For instructions, see:
Labelling the table element
You can put a label on an element to make the content of the element, for example, context-sensitive (the behavior depends on the style sheet). To label the element, you set a value for the label attribute on the Attributes > Label tab.
Making the table element unique
It is possible to make an element uniquely identifiable in the content file or configuration file. An element ID is represented by a unique value for the id attribute on the element.
An element ID is unique since several elements in the same content file or configuration file cannot have the same element ID.
To make a link to another target element, the target element must have an element ID.
The first character in the element ID must be a letter or an underscore.
It is possible to let Skribenta generate element IDs automatically on certain elements (maintitle, section, table, figure wrapper and block wrapper), in content files and configuration files.
For instructions, see:
Conditionalizing the table element
It is possible to conditionalize an element, and thereby all the content in the element, by adding a Condition attribute to the element.
By using a variable in the condition, the condition can be evaluated differently depending on the variable value defined in the publication's configuration file. You can then use the same content file in multiple publications, and let the variable value control the published output.
Setting a condition on the include element is not recommended. Instead, set the condition on the included file's maintitle if the condition applies to all places the file is included. If the condition do not apply for all the different places an included file is reused, wrap the include element in an if-wrapper element.
Setting language on the table element
You can set an explicit language on elements containing content written on another language compared to the language in the rest of the content file.
Content in elements having a set language are ignored when translating. Thus, when publishing translations, the content in elements having a set language is always kept as is.
Select the explicit language for the element on the Attributes > Language tab.
Adding an icon on the table element
You can add an icon on an element to make it visually stand out in your content file to, for example, locate it easily when editing many elements.
Select an icon for the element on the Attributes > Icons tab.
Setting a user-specific attribute value on the table element
You can add custom metadata to an element to process it in some specific way. Apart from the standard XML attributes in Skribenta, it is possible to set user-specific attribute values using the data attribute.
For instructions, see:
Viewing all attribute values set on the table element
On the table toolbar, click Attributes > All to display the list of all attribute values on the table element.
Deleting an attribute value set on the table element
It is possible to delete an attribute from an element in your file.
For instructions, see:
Formatting the table element
You can format the content of the entire table element to, for example, bold. Or, define a font family, size, color and background.
Setting bold, italic, and underlined is visible both in Skribenta and in the published result.
Setting font family, size, color and background affect the presentation of content in Skribenta. Whether font family, size, color and background is visible in the published output depends on the stylesheet.
When formatting the table element using the Format tab in the toolbar, you set a style attribute on the table element. This is different from using Format in the top toolbar, as you then insert an inline format element.
Bold
It is possible to make text in bold. You can make certain words bold or all make all content in an element bold.
For instructions, see:
Italic
It is possible to make text italic. You can make certain words italic or all make all content in an element italic.
For instructions, see:
Underline
It is possible to make text underlined. You can make certain words underlined or all make all content in an element underlined.
For instructions, see:
Family
To set a font family for the entire table element, select Family on the Format tab.
Size
To set a font size for the entire table element, select Size on the Format tab.
Color
To set font color for the entire table element, select Color on the Format tab.
Background
To set a background color for the entire table element, select Background on the Format tab.
Creating a table caption
It is possible to create a table caption. The caption is created inside a caption element. Tables with a caption are often numbered when published (defined in the style sheet).
For instructions, see:
Adding a table head
It is possible to add a head to your table. The table head is often styled differently compared to the table body when published.
You can create multiple table head rows (only using Shift row up), which are always displayed on top of the table. A table cannot only consist of table heads.
For instructions, see:
Setting table column width
It is possible to set columns widths in a table by moving the vertical column borders using a drag-and-drop operation. It is also possible to specify columns widths in relative numbers. This means that if the first column, in a two column table, has width=2 and the second column has width=3, then the first column's relative width is 2/5 and the second column's relative width is 3/5.
For instructions, see:
Creating a new table row
It is possible to create a new row in a table. The new row can be inserted above or below the current row.
For instructions, see:
Creating a new table column
It is possible to create a new column in a table. The new column can be inserted to the left or right of the current column.
For instructions, see:
Inserting a new table cell
It is possible to create a new cell in a table. The new cell is inserted to the left of the current cell.
For instructions, see:
Hiding the table element
It is possible to hide block content, such as complete paragraphs and sections, from appearing in the published publication. Hiding content is useful in cases you need to publish a draft version, and you do not want to show certain content. You can select multiple block elements and hide them.
For instructions, see:
Transforming the table element
It is possible to change an element from one type to another. This is called to transform the element. The content of the element is not affected by the transformation.
You can transform the table element to a:
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Ordered or unordered list. Each table cell becomes a listitem.
You can also remove the table element, which is called unwrap. When unwrapping, the table element the content in each table cell is preserved.
On the table toolbar, click Transform.
For instructions, see:
Cutting the table element
It is possible to cut content in a file to the clipboard in different ways. It is possible to:
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cut content in an element to the clipboard
or
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cut one or several elements (including all their content) to the clipboard.
For instructions, see:
Copying the table element
It is possible to copy content in the file to the clipboard in different ways. It is possible to:
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copy content in an element to the clipboard
or
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copy one or several elements (including all their content) to the clipboard.
For instructions, see:
Pasting the table element
It is possible to paste content from the clipboard to the file.
For instructions, see: