@John: Thank you for pointing me to those table syntax ideas. They are all sensible, but look like hard work for the user.
Since there is no standard, I'd like to suggest a couple of possibilities and get people's comments. Design goals: - A table should look like a table in plain text - It must be easy to create - It must be flexible about how much text can go in a cell - It shouldn't force you to use a fixed-width font Suggestion 1: - A table begins with a header row where columns are separated by |s. It ends with a blank line. - It can optionally include lines of -----s, which are ignored when generating html - Within a table, columns are separated by either a tab or 3 or more spaces. Actual alignment of text is up to the user. Alignment varies of course depending on font. In my examples below, I have aligned the columns _for my email editor_. - If you want more control over a particular cell or row, you can use an html cell or row - If you need more control than that, use an html table Example: | Wine | Tasting notes -------------------------------------------------------- Black Stump Bordeaux peppermint flavoured Burgundy Sydney Syrup ranks among the world's best sugary wines Château Blue lingering afterburn Old Smokey 1968 compares favourably to a Welsh claret 1970 Coq du Rod Laver recommended by the Australian Wino Society Melbourne Old-and-Yellow a good fighting wine is, which is particularly heavy and best suited for hand-to-hand combat. <td colspan='2' class='caption'>Table: Lesser Australian wines</td> Idea 2: Use a table tag to mark a table block. If the contents are not html, then convert them <table class='my-table-css'> Wine Tasting notes Château Chunder a fine wine which really opens up the sluices at both ends. Sydney Syrup ranks among the world's best sugary wines Château Blue lingering afterburn Old Smokey 1968 compares favourably to a Welsh claret 1970 Coq du Rod Laver recommended by the Australian Wino Society Melbourne Old-and-Yellow a good fighting wine is, which is particularly heavy and best suited for hand-to-hand combat. </table> Pros: can provide class information and border settings. Idea 3: Use a caption at the end of the table to mark a table block, with empty captions being allowed. Example: Wine Tasting notes Black Stump Bordeaux peppermint flavoured Burgundy Sydney Syrup ranks among the world's best sugary wines Château Blue lingering afterburn. Old Smokey 1968 compares favourably to a Welsh claret 1970 Coq du Rod Laver recommended by the Australian Wino Society Melbourne Old-and-Yellow a good fighting wine is, which is particularly heavy and best suited for hand-to-hand combat. Table: Lesser Australian wines What do you think? Regards, Daniel _______________________________________________ Markdown-Discuss mailing list Markdown-Discuss@six.pairlist.net http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/markdown-discuss
