Styling Tables

On the USGS eXtyles style palette, the buttons on the Object tab are used as follows.

  • Table Title: Table number and table title.
  • Table Headnote: The headnote for the table, or a continuation paragraph of the table title.
  • Table Heading: Table head cells at the top of columns within the Word table.
  • Table Spanner: Table internal heading.
  • Table Body: Table body cells.
  • Table Footnote: Table footnotes.
  • Table Title Repeating/Facing: For use only for facing-page tables (see section below)
  • Table Group Begin: For use only for facing-page tables (see section below)
  • Table Group End: For use only for facing-page tables (see section below)

For ease of table styling and to ensure that all paragraphs in the document are properly tagged, Inera recommends that table footnotes be placed after the table (i.e., outside of the table grid), as in the following Simple Table example, although this is not a requirement.

When using the eXtyles palette, eXtyles normally applies the selected style to a whole row of cells at once. To apply the selected style otherwise, use the modifier keys as indicated in the following table while pressing the relevant button on the palette. See also the section USGS Styles.

KeyAction
(none)Applies the specified style to an entire row (from the current cell to the end of the row).
ShiftApplies the specified style to the remainder of the table (from the current cell to the end of the row).
ControlApplies the specified style one paragraph within a cell at a time. If there is only one paragraph in a cell, this behavior is the same as Shift + Control.
Shift + ControlApplies the specified style to one cell at a time.
In this section

The Shift key is particularly useful when styling a table: as soon as you reach the point in the table at which all remaining cells are to be tagged as your table body style, for instance, you can hold down Shift and click on your table body style, and eXtyles will tag the rest of the table automatically!

Please note the following special information about styling tables with the eXtyles palette (as opposed to the regular Word Paragraph Style menu):

  • When styling tables, empty cells are skipped.

Using the eXtyles cleanup feature to add non-breaking spaces to all empty table cells ensures that all table cells are correctly styled

  • eXtyles preserves any of the following format information that was previously applied to each cell by an author:
    • Alignment (left, right, center, justify, decimal)
    • Indents (first line, left, right)
    • Tab stops (e.g., decimal alignment)
    • Shading

All of this information is respected during an eXtyles CALS or XHTML export.

  • If the entire content of a cell is already in italic, bold, or underline, eXtyles will preserve this markup.
  • If a paragraph style for a table cell specifies italic, bold, or underline markup, it will be applied to the entire content of the cell.

Note

Because eXtyles will preserve in the XML the table formatting described here, it is important to proof carefully tables in the Word document. For instance, if the author has applied shading to table cells but that shading is not intended to be included in the final product, it will be important to remove the shading from the table in the Word document before XML export.

Likewise, if decimal alignment is required in the final product, it will be important to proof carefully the format of the table in the Word document before export to make sure that decimal alignment has been applied.

Simple Tables

The following simple table shows the correct location of each style:

Table 1. This is a Table Title. It may be located within the table grid or outside of it.

[The Table Headnote appears in brackets, following the Table Title.]

Table HeadTable HeadTable Head
Table Body*Table BodyTable Body
Table BodyTable Body

Table Body

*Table Footnote text. Any symbol, number can be used (or, no symbol/number).

Complex Tables

Paragraph styles can be used to add specific formatting to table content. Your configuration’s list style can be applied to an individual table cell that contains a list using the Shift + Control shortcut; or to an individual list paragraph within a cell using the Control shortcut.

For tables that contain row headers mid-table, the table spanner head style should be applied, rather than table body (see the following example).

Table 1. This is a Table Title. It may be located within the table grid or outside of it.

[The Table Headnote appears in brackets, following the Table Title.]

Table Head

Table Head

Table Head

Table Body

Table Body

• List Level 1

• List Level 1

Table Spanner

Table Spanner

Table Body

Table Body

Table Body

• List Level 1

• List Level 1

*Table Footnote text. Any symbol, number can be used (or, no symbol/number).

Facing-Page Tables

Occasionally, large tables will span a page spread during layout: we’ll call these facing-page tables. These tables are uniquely complex, in part because their layout requires repetition of table content (e.g., titles, occasionally the first column, etc.). So that these tables can be set correctly during layout they must be carefully prepared in the Word document to generate the required markup in the XML.

Word and XML Examples

      

Paragraph Styles for Facing-Page Tables

In Word, the following paragraph styles should to be used for facing-page tables:

  • Table Group Begin

  • Table Group End

  • Table Title Repeating/Facing

Beyond these specific styles, regular table styles should be used for the remaining table content.

The Table Group Begin and Table Group End styles indicate to eXtyles that all of the content within those paragraphs belongs to one large table, and eXtyles will then correctly group the content together in the XML.

The Begin and End paragraphs must contain text, which will be dropped from the XML.

Use the Table Title Repeating/Facing for the title of the second part of the table (the second table). This title is often different from the primary table title, because it will include a notation such as [-Right].

Format of Facing-Page Tables

In Word

Importantly, facing-page tables must be split into two distinct tables in Word: a left and right side (as shown in the previous example). This is an exception to the general eXtyles workflow rule of keeping all tables whole.

In the XML

When these styles are used and the tables are formatted as shown, the export process will produce a <table-wrap-group> in the XML that includes both sides of the table (the two separate tables in the Word doc).

<table-wrap-group>
   <table-wrap id="t05___1">
   …
   <table-wrap id="t05___2">
</table-wrap-group>