Re: tables with Unicode box drawing characters?

[Waylan Limberg]

On Wed, Sep 9, 2009 at 12:18 AM, Suraj Kurapati wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I read David Wheeler's table proposal[1] for Markdown and very much
> agree with his conclusion and PostgreSQL-inspired proposed format.  I
> also read the mailing list archives for 2009 but did not find any
> clear concesus on whether DW's format was officially accepted (I hope
> it is soon!).

I didn't go back and check but I think there was in a previous
discussion with a similar proposal. In other words, you need to go
back further in the archive.

Basically, these proposals for more complex tables are outside the
scope of Markdown and should be left to raw html. At least I seem to
recall actual implementers leaning that direction. Of course, if
someone wanted to implement David's proposal (or some variant) and
users flocked to it, then the rest of us may follow suite. Until then,
I'm sticking to the simple solution we have now.

Hint (and shameless plug): Python-Markdown makes adding on something
of the sort easy with it's extension API. Check it out here:
http://www.freewisdom.org/projects/python-markdown/Writing_Extensions


> What if Markdown used Unicode characters to express tables in this manner?
>
> All we need are two essential subsets of the Unicode box drawing characters:
> * thin ones for normal cells: ┌ ┐ └ ┘ ─ │
> * thick ones for heading cells: ╔ ╗ ╚ ╝ ═ ║
>

The last few times someone proposed a syntax that didn't use commonly
found keys on the keyboard, the proposal met with a *lot* of
resistance. I suspect most users wouldn't even know how to type these
characters.

Another barrier is that not all implementations support Unicode (I
think - at least not fully). Therefore, some implementations may never
adopt such a proposal.

Third, it seems like it would be an awful lot of work to build such a
table. A lot more than some of the existing proposals out there.

-- 

\X/ /-\ `/ |_ /-\ |\|
Waylan Limberg
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tables with Unicode box drawing characters?

[Suraj Kurapati]

Hello,

I read David Wheeler's table proposal[1] for Markdown and very much
agree with his conclusion and PostgreSQL-inspired proposed format.  I
also read the mailing list archives for 2009 but did not find any
clear concesus on whether DW's format was officially accepted (I hope
it is soon!).

However, I want to ask: has anyone considered taking these simple
ASCII table drawings to the next level of realism with Unicode box
drawing characters[2]?  I have long admired the w3m browser[3]'s
ability to render HTML tables using Unicode box drawing characters.
For example, w3m renders this[4] demo page as follows[5]:

 A more complex table-within-a table.
   An inner table showing a variety of headings and data items.
┌┐
│  Inner Table   │
├───┬┤
│   │   Head1│
│  CORNER   ├┬───┤
│   ││ Head3 │
├───┬───┤   Head2├──┬┤
│   Head4   │ Head5 ││Head6 ││
   Outer├───┼───┼┼──┴┤
   Table│A  │   │  • Lists can be table data │   Two Wide│
│   │   │  • Images can be table data│   │
├───┤   ├┼──┬┤
│   │Two│A Form in a table: Your age:│  ││
│   │Tall   │[  ]│  No  │Multiple│
│HTML   │   │ What is your favorite ice  │border│line│
│Station│   │   cream?   │Little│item│
│   │   │[Chocolate ]│Table ││
│   │   │   [OK] [Cancel]│  ││
└───┴───┴┴──┴┘


What if Markdown used Unicode characters to express tables in this manner?

All we need are two essential subsets of the Unicode box drawing characters:
* thin ones for normal cells: ┌ ┐ └ ┘ ─ │
* thick ones for heading cells: ╔ ╗ ╚ ╝ ═ ║

Thanks for your consideration.

[1]: http://justatheory.com/computers/markup/markdown-table-rfc.html
[2]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Box_drawing_characters
[3]: http://w3m.sourceforge.net/
[4]: http://www.december.com/html/demo/table.html
[5]: http://snk.tuxfamily.org/tmp/w3m-tables.png
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