Tables

Tables represent a sizable challenge for any text processing system, but simple tables, at least, appear in so many texts that even in the simplified TEI tag set presented here, markup for tables is necessary. The following elements are provided for this purpose:

<table>

contains text displayed in tabular form, in rows and columns. Attributes include:

rows: indicates the number of rows in the table.
cols: indicates the number of columns in each row of the table.

<row>

contains one row of a table. Attributes include:

role: indicates the kind of information held in the cells of this row. Suggested values include label for labels or descriptive information, and data for actual data values.

<cell>

contains one cell of a table. Attributes include:

role: indicates the kind of information held in the cell. Suggested values include label for labels or descriptive information, and data for actual data values.
cols: indicates the number of columns occupied by this cell.
rows: indicates the number of rows occupied by this cell.

For example, Defoe uses mortality tables like the following in the Journal of the Plague Year to show the rise and ebb of the epidemic:

<p>It was indeed coming on amain, for the burials that
same week were in the next adjoining parishes thus:&mdash;
<table rows="5" cols="4">
<row role="data">
<cell role="label">St. Leonard's, Shoreditch</cell>
      <cell>64</cell> <cell>84</cell> <cell>119</cell></row>
<cell role="label">St. Botolph's, Bishopsgate</row>
      <cell>65</cell> <cell>105</cell> <cell>116</cell></row>
<cell role="label">St. Giles's, Cripplegate</row>
     <cell>213</cell> <cell>421</cell> <cell>554</cell></row>
</table>
<p>This shutting up of houses was at first counted a very cruel
and unchristian method, and the poor people so confined made
bitter lamentations. ... </p>

Up: Contents Previous: 13. Bibliographic Citations Next: 15. Figures and Graphics

Date: (revised October 2004) Author: Lou Burnard (revised SPQR).
Copyright TEI 1995

Text Encoding Initiative

14. Tables